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THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


“INDIAN” STORIES 
WITH HISTORICAL BASES 

By D. LANGE 
12mo Cloth Illustrated 
ON THE TRAIL OF THE SIOUX 

THE SILVER ISLAND OF THE 
CHIPPEWA 

LOST IN THE FUR COUNTRY 
IN THE GREAT WILD NORTH 
THE LURE OF THE BLACK HILLS 
THE LURE OF THE MISSISSIPPI 
THE SILVER CACHE OF THE PAWNEE 
THE SHAWNEE’S WARNING 
THE THREAT OF SITTING BULL 


LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 





“I HOPE THAT YOU WILL BE WILLING TO BE MY SONS.” — Page 246 




THE RAID OF THE 
OTTAWA 


BY 


D. LANGE 

Author of ''On the Trail of the Sioux f The 
Silver Island of the Chipfewaf "The 
Shawnee's Warning," "The Threat 
of Sitting Bull," etc. 


Illustrated by 
JOHN D. WHITING 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 


Published, September, 1921 


A ^ 

/<? k -V 


Copyright, 1921, 

By D. Lange 

The Raid of the Ottawa 


• • 

IRorwooD lpte00 

BERWICK & SMITH CO. 
Norwood, Mass. 

U. S. A. 


SEP 21 1921 

§)C1.A624468 


FOREWORD 


This story plays at the time of the French 
and Ii dian War. During this contest, the 
American Colonies and England on one side 
and the French on the other side were en- 
gaged in a long struggle for the possession of 
Eastern Canada, the Great Lakes, and the 
Mississippi Valley east of the Great Eiver. 

It is a story of captivity amongst the In- 
dians of three American boys from Western 
Pennsylvania. 

One cannot help admiring the bravery and 
hardihood of the American frontier settlers, 
who held their primitive homes on the tribu- 
taries of the Ohio against the attacks of 
French soldiers and countless Indian raiders, 
who roamed as far as within two days’ journey 
of Philadelphia. 

The story tells what befell the three sons 
of Samuel Hopkins at the hands of Wagoo- 

shaw and Winnebogo, two Ottawa warriors, 
6 


6 


FOKEWOKD 


and how two of the lads were adopted by the 
good chief Obashay, who lived on Michipico- 
ten Bay on Lake Superior. 

The author has tried to tell here another 
story of the lakes and forests, rivers and 
mountains of America; and of the wonderful 
history of our country. He believes that to 
know America and its history is to love Amer- 
ica. 

D. Lange. 

Paul, Minnesota, 

February, 1921. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 





PAGE 

I. 

The Raider . 




II 

11. 

In the Forest 




20 

III. 

The Dark Trail . 




26 

IV. 

Indian Ruses 




35 

V. 

The French Boy . 




43 

VI. 

The Plans of Alois 




54 

VII. 

The Signal . 




59 

VIII. 

No Food 




69 

IX. 

Unknown Danger . 




79 

X. 

An Untimely Caller 




87 

XI. 

The Ghost Fort . 




99 

XII. 

Prisoners 




III 

XIII. 

The Clash 




122 

XIV. 

A Hard Blow 




128 

XV. 

The Wily Ottawa 




137 

XVI. 

A Strange Find . 




150 

XVII. 

The Beaver Dam . 




156 

XVIII. 

The Quarrel 




165 

XIX. 

The War-Party . 




i 75 

XX. 

Alois and Winnebogo 

7 




187 


8 


CONTENTS 


XXL 

Grave Danger .... 

198 

XXII. 

The Plot 

209 

XXIIL 

Troubled Boys .... 

222 

XXIV. 

Marooned on the Michipicoten 

233 

XXV. 

Chief Obashay .... 

239 

XXVI. 

A Winter Hunt 

248 

XXVII. 

Ahmik and Kookookuhoo . 

258 

XXVIII. 

The Trail of Negeek 

268 

XXIX. 

Rock Tripe .... 

275 

XXX. 

Indian Dreams .... 

288 

XXXI. 

Obashay Talks .... 

295 

XXXII. 

The Trail of Wagooshaw . 

305 

XXXIII. 

The Fight 

316 

XXXIV. 

The Great Council . 

331 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

“ I hope that you will be willing to 

be my sons ” (Page 246) . Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

“ Come, come I No yell I . . .14 

In a wild flight the French ran back to 

their boats 124 

Jack and Alois did not find the breaking 

of the beaver dam an easy job . . 166 

Two Chippewas brought the most exciting 

news of the war .... 202 

Jack found his brother in a fierce hand-to- 

hand fight 326 


9 


* 


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4 




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t 


•V 





The Raid of the Ottawa 


CHAPTEE I 

THE RAIDER 

Wagooshaw, the Ottawa Indian from Lake 
Superior, had been watching the cabin of 
Steve Hopkins all day. 

The Ottawas and all the Indian tribes west 
of Lake Ontario were strong friends of the 
French in the French and Indian war, which 
had now been raging for several years; while 
the Iroquois or Six ^^^ations had taken the side 
of the Americans and the English. 

Wagooshaw had been lucky on his raid into 
the American settlements east of Fort Hu 
Quesne, the site of the present city of Pitts- 
burgh. He had in his bag the scalp of an Iro- 
quois and that of an American, but he was not 
satisfied with these trophies, for he had the 

reputation among the Ottawas and the French 
11 


12 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


of being a bold warrior, who brought not only 
s^ps but live captives to the French forts, 
which were located along the trade route on 
the^Ohio, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, and 
Lake Ontario to Montreal and Quebec. 

Now a man came out of the cabin. 

“ Fred,” he called to a boy, you stay in the 
cabin till I come back, then you can come and 
milk one of the cows.” 

Wagooshaw could have fired at this man 
and might have secured another scalp, but it 
would have exposed him to great danger. The 
man carried a gun on his shoulder, and in his 
belt Wagooshaw saw a pistol and a hunting- 
knife. If Wagooshaw failed to kill him, the 
white man would surely attack the Indian, 
moreover the boy in the cabin also had a gun. 

Wagooshaw had not been in the cabin, but 
in the morning Steve Hopkins and his nephew, 
Fred, had worked in the corn-patch near by 
and each had had a gun. 

The Ottawa had not understood what the 
man had said to the boy, but he knew that the 
man was going to bring home three cows, for 
he had found the cows in the woods on the day 


THE RAIDER 


13 


before and be bad beard a calf bleat in a small 
log barn. Wagoosbaw wanted very much to 
kill that calf, for be bad eaten nothing except 
a little parched corn for several days, buf be 
refrained from doing so, because be feared that 
it would ruin bis chances for making a captive 
and it might even expose him to grave danger. 

After Stephen Hopkins bad been gone a little 
while, the boy came out and went to the corn- 
patch and soon returned with an armful of 
early green corn in the busk. 

Wagoosbaw watched the boy as a panther 
watches a feeding deer, but be made no move, 
because the boy carried a gun and a corn- 
knife. 

Again the Ottawa lay down quietly in the 
thicket of young thorn-bushes. 

Small boy no fool,” he muttered. 

But now the boy came out again and began 
to strip the husks off the corn. His gun and 
the corn-knife he had left inside. Wagoosbaw 
quicMy crawled up through some weeds to 
within a few rods of the cabin. Then he 
rushed upon the boy and called, “ Come, come ! 
No yell!” 


14 THE 'RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Before tlie frightened young lad realized 
what had happened to him, Wagooshaw had 
seized him by the arm and dragged him into 
the timber. Here he quickly tied his hands to- 
gether with a thong of deerskin and pointing 
in a northwesterly direction said, March ! 
March ! ” 

The Ottawa was anxious to get away from 
the scene of his raid as fast as possible, and 
the boy, with his hands tied, could not walk 
fast enough to suit his captor. He could not 
bend aside any obstructing bushes, he stum- 
bled repeatedly over roots and logs, and sev- 
eral times Wagooshaw poked him with his 
tomahawk and showed him that he should 
keep marching toward the sun, which was still 
about two hours high. 

When the boy again almost fell over a root, 
the Indian grew angry, and the lad thought he 
was going to be killed. The Ottawa, however, 
untied the boy’s hands, grasped him firmly by 
the wrist and again saying, “ March, march ! ” 
he strode forward so fast that the small boy 
was almost dragged off his feet. 

Several times the lad lost his hat, but on 



" Come, come ! No yell! —Page 13 . 






THE KAIDEK 15 

eacli occasion the Indian motioned to him to 
pick it up. 

In this way Wagooshaw Avalked through the 
forest till it was almost dark. They crossed 
some small creeks and several trails, but the 
Indian, although he made many short loops, 
never deviated from his main direction except 
to avoid some rough or low ground or patches 
of dense undergrowth. 

Fred was now beginning to feel faint with 
hunger and thirst, but when they came to a 
small stream and the Indian motioned to the 
boy to lie down and take a drink, the lad was 
afraid to do so, fearing that the Ottawa would 
strike him with his tomahawk. Wagooshaw 
seemed to read the boy’s mind, for he laughed 
and said, ^No kill him ! ]N^o kill him ! ” 

After this, Wagooshaw walked more slowly 
and Fred thought he was looking for a place 
to stop for the night. Under a large tree, the 
Ottawa stopped and sent an arrow amongst 
the boughs, when, to the surprise of the lad, a 
large turkey came fluttering down to the 
ground. 

Fred now began to collect his mind, and 


16 THE HATH OF THE OTTAWA 


tFouglit tliat lie would watch, for a favorable 
moment and break away into the forest. He 
felt sure that, if he once was out of sight of his 
captor, he could make his escape in the dark- 
ness ; and in the morning he would be able to 
find his way back home, for he had taken care- 
ful notice of the direction his captor had 
taken, and he had often travelled about in the 
forest, hunting with his two older brothers, 
Frank and Jack, or looking for strayed cattle 
and horses. 

But the Ottawa seemed to be reading his 
mind; for before he paid any more attention 
to the turkey, he tied the lad to a tree. 

Apparently he felt himself safe, now. In a 
little while he had a fire going and threw 
the lad^s hat into it. Then he quickly plucked 
the larger feathers of the turkey and singed 
off the smaller ones; and in a very short 
time the meat of the turkey was roasting on 
several green sticks over a bed of hot red 
coals. 

The fire looked so cheerful and the roast 
turkey smelled so inviting that the hungry boy 
for the time forgot his captivity, and only 


THE EAIDEH 17 

wished that he might be given some of the 
roast turkey. 

When the meat was done, the Indian 
stripped a piece of bark off a tree and on this 
he laid the meat; then he untied the boy 
and motioned him to sit down and eat, hand- 
ing the lad a leg and a large piece of the 
breast. 

Fred felt as if he had never been so hungry 
in his life, and as he felt sure now that the 
Indian meant to do him no bodily harm, he 
ate heartily of the well-flavored meat, al- 
though it had been cooked without salt or sea- 
soning. 

To eat meat without salt was nothing un- 
usual to the boys of the frontier in those days. 
Salt had to be packed on horses across the 
mountains, and sold on the Pennsylvania 
frontier at from eight to twelve dollars a 
bushel, which means about fifty dollars a 
bushel at the present value of money. 

Wagooshaw seemed to be as hungry as his 
captive, and when both the Indian and the boy 
were satisfied, only a few scraps of the large 
turkey were left. These the Indian wrapped 


18 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


up in a piece of tanned bucksidn, which, did 
not look any too clean to Fred. 

The boy had now entirely regained his self- 
possession, and with the resourcefulness in- 
bred and developed early under conditions of 
frontier life, he was again planning to escape. 
But again Wagooshaw seemed to know what 
the boy was thinking ; for as a first precaution 
he made him take off his shoes, before he 
handed him a piece of a blanket for cover. 
Next he tied a thong around the boy’s waist, 
and the other end of the thong he wrapped 
around his own body, after he had rolled up 
in his blanket. 

However, the white boy was not discouraged 
by these precautions. At first he had planned 
to secure Wagooshaw’s hunting knife, quickly 
cut the thong and slip away into the dark for- 
est. That plan he had to give up, because Wa- 
gooshaw kept the knife inside his blanket. He 
would wait now till the Ottawa was asleep, 
and then he would quietly cut the thong with 
his teeth. It might take a little while to do 
this, but he felt sure that he could do it so 
quietly that the Indian would not wake up. 


THE EAIDER 


19 


A surprised Indian there would be in the 
morning, when he woke up and found his 
white boy gone. He had watched where Wa- 
gooshaw put his shoes. He would quietly pick 
them up, and slip away into the woods before 
he stopped to put them on. 

He wondered how long it took an Indian to 
go to sleep. He himself began to feel drowsy 
after the hard walk and a big meal, and he 
pinched himself to keep awake. The Indian 
must be asleep in a few minutes now. Just a 
few minutes more, and he would begin cutting 
that thong. . . . 

The next thing Fred knew was that some- 
body was pushing him and trying to wake him 
up. 

^‘Oh, let me sleep, Frank,” he murmured. 

I — I made — made a long run.” 

And then he woke up. His brother Frank 
had vanished. But in the gray dawn he saw 
" a tall Indian with a long gun and a bow stand- 
ing over him. 

March, march ! ” the Indian called, and 
pointed at Fredas shoes. 


CHAPTER II 


IN THE FOREST 

They liad not gone far, wlien the Ottawa 
struck a trail leading in a northwesterly direc- 
tion. 

An Indian trail is only wide enough for one 
person, and the Ottawa could not travel hold- 
ing his captive by the hand, so he again 
brought out the deerhide thong, tied it around 
the lad’s waist and to his own belt, and struck 
out with a long, striding gait, so fast that 
Fred could scarcely keep up with him. When 
they came to a spring, Wagooshaw stopped 
just long enough for a drink and then said, 

March ! ” and again strode ahead at a rapid 
pace. 

The day grew warm and not a leaf moved 
on the forest trees. Although the trail was 
well shaded, the boy soon became so exhausted 
with fatigue and hunger that he began to 
20 


m THE FOKEST 


21 


stumble and fall over the roots on the trail. 
Without uttering a word, the big Indian 
picked him up and walked along without 
slacking his speed. 

It was almost noon, as Fred judged by the 
position of the sun, when they came to a large 
rapid river, which Fred knew must be the 
Allegheny. 

The Ottawa looked up and down the stream 
for a few minutes as if in search of a canoe, 
but finding none, he cut a stout pole with his 
hatchet, took off his clothing, except breech- 
clout and moccasins, lifted the boy on his 
shoulders and started to wade across. The 
current was swift, and in several places the 
water was more than waist-deep, but the In- 
dian seemed to know the ford, and with the 
aid of his pole, he soon reached the other bank. 

He seemed to be less in a hurry now, for 
after they had leisurely followed the trail for 
a short stretch, he struck off into the forest 
and sat down under a large oak, near a small 
trickling stream. Then he took out of his bag 
the remnants of the roast turkey and gave half 
of it to Fred, and after they had eaten and 


22 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


taken a drink at tke stream, tke Indian again 
struck out northward on the trail. 

Although Fred was only ten years old, he 
had already acquired considerable knowledge 
of frontier geography and history. His oldest 
brother Frank, when still a mere boy, had spent 
a summer with two men, who acted as scouts 
for Sir William Johnson at Albany. Their 
duty was to watch the doings and movements 
of the French along Lake Erie and the Niag- 
ara frontier and report to the Americans and 
English in New York and Virginia. An uncle 
of the Hopkins boys was with the Colonial 
troops of Virginia, while the parents were now 
on a journey to Philadelphia. The father, 
Samuel Hopkins, was in charge of a pack train 
of horses that was to bring goods over the 
mountains to the western settlements, and the 
mother had gone along to visit her old parents 
near Philadelphia, whom she had not seen for 
many years. The little Western home had 
been left in charge of Uncle Steve who was 
much attached to his three nephews, Frank, 
Jack, and Fred. 

It was now the beginning of July, 1759. 


m THE FOKEST 


23 


The tide of war, which during the first two 
years had brought nothing but disaster to the 
Americans and the English, now seemed to be 
turning against the French and their Indian 
allies. 

Fort Du Quesne had been wrested from the 
French, and Oswego on Lake Ontario, once 
captured by the brave and able French general 
Montcalm, was now again in the hands of the 
English and Americans. But the French still 
held Presque Isle on Lake Erie, on a peninsula 
now within the city of Erie, Pa. ; Fort 
Magara at the mouth of the Niagara Eiver on 
Lake Ontario; as well as Montreal and Quebec, 
besides a number of other posts. 

Important news soon spread even in those 
days, although there were no telegraphs and 
but few newspapers. The Hopkins boys ea- 
gerly followed the events of the war, and even 
Fred, the youngest of them, knew the facts 
just told. 

After Fred and Wagooshaw had crossed the 
Allegheny, the Indian travelled along more 
slowly, and Fred knew that his captor felt 
safe from pursuers. The boy also figured out 


24 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


that he was being taken to Presque Isle on 
Lake Erie. He still intended to run away 
from the Ottawa at the first opportunity, if 
Uncle Steve and his brothers did not come for 
him ; but for the present he only wished that 
the Indian would stop and let him lie down, 
for he was getting so tired that he could 
scarcely drag himself along. 

When the sun was still some four hours 
high, the Indian again left the trail, and in an 
open spot under some large walnut-trees un- 
tied the boy and motioned him to sit down. 

Fred had scarcely seated himself, when the 
Indian tied his hands and feet ; and threaten- 
ing him with the hatchet and saying, ^^No yell ! 
No yell ! Wagooshaw, taking his gun, bow 
and arrows went away into the forest. 

The next thing which Fred knew was that 
he felt himself violently shaken. The Ottawa 
was kneeling beside him and pointing to a 
camp-fire. He then said something in Ottawa, 
which, as Fred learned later, meant, Come, 
eat turkey.’’ 

While the exhausted boy had been asleep, 
the Indian had shot and roasted a turkey, even 


m THE FOREST 


25 


larger and fatter tlian tlie one he had killed 
on the previous day. 

Wagooshaw seemed now to be in a more 
kindly mood, for when the lad approached the 
fire, he said in a pleasant voice, ^^Eat, boy, 
eat.” 


CHAPTER in 


THE DAEK TRAIL 

On the afternoon of the sixth day Fred and 
his captor came to a lake, which was so large 
that they could not see the opposite shore. 
Fred knew that this must he Lake Erie, al- 
though he had never seen the lake before. 
Here Wagooshaw met another Indian who had 
a canoe, made of hickory bark, and in this 
canoe the boy and the two Indians paddled 
along shore to a stockade fort located on the 
point of a small peninsula on the site of the 
present city of Erie, Pennsylvania. 

There were about a hundred soldiers and 
two traders in this fort, who talked French, 
for this was the French fort of Presque Isle, 
which means almost an island.” 

At this place Wagooshaw received a little 
powder and a few bullets for the two scalps 

he had secured on his raid to the English set- 
26 


THE DAEK TEAIL 


27 


tlements, and he traded an otter skin for a 
small bag of salt and a blanket. He and Fred 
spent the night in a log cabin, and the boy 
was allowed to sleep in the new blanket with- 
out having his hands and feet tied up. 

In the morning the Ottawa went up in one 
of the corner blocldiouses and talked to a 
Frenchman on duty there. Although Fred 
could not understand what was said, he gath- 
ered that they tried to make out what would 
be the condition of the lake, whether the water 
was going to be rough or smooth. 

A little later the Ottawa carried a birch- 
bark canoe to the boat landing and told Fred 
to get in. Apparently the Indian had decided 
that the open lake would be too rough, for he 
started to paddle eastward along the shore, 
where the water was very smooth. But far 
out on the lake, Fred could see white crests on 
the waves, caused by a strong wind blowing 
from the south. 

Late in the afternoon, Wagooshaw steered 
the canoe into the mouth of a creek. Then he 
took some fish-hooks out of his bag and in a 
little while the two canoeists, using clams for 


28 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


bait, bad caught enough fish for their supper. 
These they roasted on green sticks, and the 
Indian seemed pleased to see that the white 
boy knew how to do this. He handed the bag 
of salt to Fred and the boy had a very good 
supper, but the Indian did not use any salt 
on his fish. 

• When the sun had set, both lay down to 
sleep. Fred’s hands and feet were not bound, 
but the Indian merely tied a cord around 
Fred’s waist and wrapped the other end 
around his own body. 

In the morning they caught some more fish 
for breakfast and then they paddled again 
eastward down the lake. In the afternoon 
they could see land to the north, and a little 
later the Indian steered the canoe across and 
they landed on what is now the shore of On- 
tario, straight north of Buffalo. Here they 
again caught some fish for their supper, and 
when evening came, Fred was allowed to sleep 
in his own blanket without being tied up, but 
Wagooshaw put the paddles under his own 
blanket. 

Fred had hoped that the Indian would sell 


THE DAKK TKAIL 


29 


Mm to the French at Presque Isle. In that 
case he had planned how he would escape. He 
would get a bow and some arrows, also a piece 
of steel, a bit of flint and some punk. Perhaps 
he could also get a knife. Then he would 
watch his chances, and at the first favorable 
opportunity, he would run off and make his 
way back to the American settlements near 
Fort Du Quesne, which the English had 
named Fort Pitt. 

But he realized now that, for the present, all 
his chances for escape had vanished. He 
would have no means of crossing Lake Erie. 
He did not know anything of the country 
north of that lake, and he knew that all the 
Indians in that region were allies of the 
French. He could do nothing now but follow 
the Ottawa to his haunts, wherever they might 
be, probably somewhere on Lake Huron or 
Lake Superior. But of these lakes and the 
country around them he knew nothing, except 
that it was far off and that no Americans or 
Englishmen lived there. 

Cases of whites being made captives by the 
Indians were very common in those days, and 


30 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


they contintied to occur until all the Indian 
tribes were finally subdued and settled on per- 
manent reservations. 

Very often these captives were ransomed by 
their relatives or by the provinces or States. 
Sometimes they made their escape amid great 
perils. The Indians generally treated their 
captives as well as the conditions of savage 
life permitted. Frequently they adopted them 
as members of the tribe, and these adopted 
captives, in many cases, refused to return to 
their white relatives. 

There is the story of John Tanner, who, 
when a boy eleven years old, was captured by 
a party of Shawnees on the Ohio in Northern 
Kentucky. He was finally adopted by a Chip- 
pewa woman, who always treated him as her 
own son. When he was grown up, he married 
a Chippewa girl and became an Indian so 
thoroughly that he forgot not only the English 
language but even his own name. He died as 
an old man near the Sault Ste. Marie, and his 
descendants are to-day living in Minnesota 
and Manitoba. 

A strange case is that of the negro, Jim 


THE DAEK TEAIL 


31 


Beckworth, who was adopted by the Crows or 
Absarokas of the western plains. He was a 
great curiosity amongst the Indians who 
called him the Black White Man. 

Both Tanner and Beckworth have left ac- 
counts of their lives. That of Beckworth con- 
tains many tales of adventures, which, accord- 
ing to the best authorities, did not happen to 
him, but The Captivity of John Tanner ” is 
one of the most interesting and truthful tales 
of adventure which the lover of American ro- 
mance and history can find. 

But we must now return to the cabin of 
Stephen Hopkins. 

Wagooshaw had scarcely travelled a mile 
with his captive, when Steve came back with 
the cows, and, at the same time, Fredas older 
brothers, Frank and Jack, came home with a 
deer. They had been out hunting, because the 
four inmates of the cabin were badly in need 
of meat, having lived already for several days 
on nothing but milk and butter and a few 
garden vegetables. 

“Where is Fred?’’ asked Frank, when the 


32 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


lad did not at once appear to see what they 
had brought, as he usually did. 

I left him in the cabin and told hini to stay 
there till I came back,” Steve informed the 
brothers. 

“ Steve, if he is not going to mind you, you 
will have to tie him up in the cabin,” replied 
Frank. I suppose he is down at the creek 
fishing. Jack, you had better go and get him, 
while Steve and I milk the cows and get sup- 
per. I wish we had another horse, so he could 
ride around with Steve, for he will not stay in 
the house for five minutes.” 

When Jack returned without finding any 
trace of the missing boy, the three men be- 
came at once alarmed, especially Frank, the 
older brother, who had personally promised 
their parents that he would look after the 
young lad. 

Jack and Steve called for the lost boy, but 
Frank circled around the little clearing in 
silence. Before Jack and Steve were through 
searching the barn and the cox^^ ,.tch, 
Frank's keen eyes had discovered the place in 
the thorn-bushes, where a man or an animal 


THE DAEK TKAIL 


33 


had been lying down, and the place where 
something had crawled through the weeds. 

^‘Come here! Come here!’’ he called 
anxiously. “ Look at this trail in the weeds ! ” 
In a few minutes more he made out a few 
moccasin tracks and then the tracks of Fred’s 
home-made shoes, where the Indian had 
rushed across the clearing with his captive. 

Good Heavens ! ” he exclaimed, his face 
flushed with anger and anxiety. “ The boy is 
gone ! We have lost him ! An Indian has car- 
ried him ofl! Look! Here is a moccasin 
track, and here is another. And here is a 
track of Fred’s shoes. He is gone, men ! He 
is gone! 

Get your gun. Jack. We must follow the 
trail at once. He cannot be more than half 
an hour ahead of us. If there isn’t a bunch of 
them, we still may be able to do something.” 

Frank’s experience in the scouting party of 
a few years ago now proved most helpful. 
He had little difficulty in finding the trail, but 
it was impossible to follow it rapidly. The 
Indian had availed himself of every patch of 
hard and open ground, where weeds and brush 


34 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 

could least betray Ms direction. But it was 
tbe oncoming darlmess, wMcb soon stopped 
the pursuers of Wagooshaw; for in the dense 
shade under the big oaks, walnuts, and hick- 
ories, it grew dark early. Although it is pos- 
sible to travel some time after sunset, it very 
soon grows too dark to follow an obscure trail. 

^^Jack, that Indian has got us beat,” ad- 
mitted Prank, as he sat down on a log and 
wiped his face. We have lost the trail, and 
I cannot find it again before daylight. That 
red raider had tuned his outrage well. He 
rushed out in time to make his escape, but too 
late for us to pursue him. I wish the Indians 
had captured me ! How can I ever face Father 
and Mother and tell them that Fred is a cap- 
tive among the Indians? ” 


CHAPTER IV 


INDIAN RUSES 

We were too late, Steve,’’ remarked Frank 
dejectedly, when he and Jack entered the 
cabin. He is so far ahead of us that I am 
afraid we can never overtake him. I found 
the trail of only one man but he may meet 
others at some apj)ointed place. I thought 
these abominable Indian raiders had cleared 
out of the country, when the French lost Fort 
Du Quesne, but they still prowl about in the 
woods as stealthily as wolves and wildcats.” 

Have some venison steak, boys,” said Steve, 
invitingly. ^^It is very good. You must be 
starved by this time.” 

I was hungry when I came home with the 
deer, but my appetite is gone now. If the 
darkness had not stopped us. Jack and I 
would have trailed that red thief till we had 
run him down.” 

There was little sleep in the Hopkins cabin 
35 


36 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


that night. The three pioneers decided that 
Frank and Jack should pursue the raider, 
even if it seemed impossible to overtake him; 
and when it was barely light enough to travel, 
Frank and Jack again took up the trail of the 
Ottawa raider. 

Every Indian knew that the telltale marks 
of all his doings and movements were left on 
his trail. He was not afraid of being sur- 
prised by anything ahead of him, but he was 
always on the alert for danger that might fol- 
low on his trail, and he was master of many 
devices that tended to baffle an enemy follow- 
ing him. 

Frank soon learned that the Indian raider 
whom he was following was no mere stripling 
of a foolish young warrior, but a man as wary 
as an old wolf. 

He had always picked out the hardest and 
most open ground, and from such places he 
had often started in the wrong direction. 
Very often he had travelled up or down the 
bed of small streams, and while he had lost 
very little time by this ruse, it caused much 
loss of time for his pursuers ; and any one not 


INDIAN EUSES 3Y 

an experienced trailer would soon have been 
hopelessly confused. 

After having followed the Indian trail in all 
its twists and ramblings from the place where 
they had left it the night before, the lads sat 
down to talk over what they had observed. 

think, Jack, I see through his tricks,’’ 
Frank began to explain. He is not going to 
cross Conewango Creek, and he is not going 
west. He has headed straight for the Alle- 
gheny Eiver below the mouth of Conewango 
Creek. Let us strike out for that point and 
pay no attention to his loops and twists. I 
feel sure that is where he is going.” 

From this time on, the two lads marched 
rapidly along on a fairly good trail, exchang- 
ing only a word now and then. They reached 
the Allegheny in the middle of the afternoon 
and crossed the river before they made camp. 

After they had refreshed themselves with a 
meal of venison, without however building a 
fire, they took up the search for the trail. 
Frank was soon convinced that no one had 
stepped out of the river at the usual crossing 
place. 


38 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


“ I don^t see,” remarked Jack, kow we can 
ever pick up in this wild forest the trail of a 
single Indian.” 

He may have eluded us,” Frank granted, 

but we picked up worse trails than this one, 
while I was on scout service with Stanfield. 
Let us work down-stream. The bank and the 
water seem to be more favorable in that direc- 
tion. Follow a few yards behind me. Don^t 
talk, but look and listen.” 

They had not gone far, when Frank stopi3ed 
and looked to the right. Something has 
gone through there,” he remarked, but it is 
the trail of only one man, but let us follow 
it.” 

“Look here,” he continued after a little 
while. “ The track of a man and a boy, and 
here is a track of shoes. The sly raider car- 
ried the boy to this place, and he is just one 
day ahead of us.” 

The two lads now followed the tracks 
through the woods, until they led into a well- 
beaten trail, which headed northward in the 
general direction of Presque Isle on Lake 
Erie. 


INDIAN KUSES 


39 


When darlmess overtook them the boys 
turned aside into the forest. Under a large, 
spreading oak they built a brush shelter and 
lay down to sleep. 

In the morning they again followed the trail 
cautiously so as to make sure that the raider 
had really gone north toward Lake Erie and 
had not turned off westward. 

We don’t dare to travel on this trail very 
far,” said Frank. ^^I think it is a regular 
Indian trail to Fort Presque Isle, and we are 
likely to be surprised any moment by a raiding 
party of Ottawas, Chippewas, or French. 

We must travel north in the forest, but far 
enough from the trail so that parties on the 
trail cannot hear us. I am convinced that the 
raider, whoever he was, has taken Fred to the 
French fort at Presque Isle, and that is the 
place we should reach as soon as possible. 

I do not see just now how we can get any 
further clue there, for if we go into the fort, 
the French will make us prisoners and send 
us down to Fort Niagara or to Montreal. 
Presque Isle is nothing but a wooden stockade, 
and I imagine they do not care to feed any 


40 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


prisoners there. But we have to try our best, 
and see what we can do. 

^^Fort Niagara, you know, Jack, is a real 
fort. The French have a big stone house 
there for the officers and for storing all kinds 
of goods. They have also a big stone magazine 
for ammunition, a bake house, hot shot tower, 
and regular barracks for troops. They also 
have quite a lot of cannon. I have never been 
inside the fort, but my scout boss, Stanfield, 
was all through the place.” 

Isn^t that the place,” asked Jack, “ where 
they run a kind of scalp exchange, and where 
the Indian raiders generally take their Amer- 
ican and English prisoners? ” 

“ThaFs the place,” assented Frank. ^^It 
is located on a point of land between Lake On- 
tario and the mouth of the Niagara River, on 
the east bank of the river, and it looks like a 
mighty strong place, but Captain Stanfield 
said that the French forgot one important 
thing ; they did not plant any batteries on the 
Canadian side of the river. I know the whole 
country from Presque Isle to Fort Niagara. 

“You remember that Father told us that 


INDIAN BUSES 


41 


General Prideaux and Sir William Johnson 
of Albany were going to attack Fort Ni- 
agara this summer^ and they may be there 
now.” 

The two lads travelled now toward Presque 
Isle as fast as possible, and they arrived on 
the shore of the open lake, just west of the 
long peninsula which makes Presque Isle 
Bay, on the evening of the day on which Wa- 
gooshaw had left the fort. 

They made their way carefully to the place 
where a trail struck the open lake, and exam- 
ined the shore of the long peninsula without 
exposing themselves. 

There, Jack ! ” Frank whispered. Do 
you see that old pirogue on shore? Some In- 
dian or Frenchman abandoned it, but it looks 
as if it might float.” 

When they had crept up to the old dug-out, 
they decided that it would float, and they 
stuffed some rags and dry rushes into some of 
the worst cracks. 

^^But there are no paddles with it,” ob- 
served Jack. 

That’s easy,” replied Frank. “ We’ll go 


42 


THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


back in the woods a way and cut two paddles 
and a pole.’’ 

When it was quite dark they returned to the 
dug-out, and, using their pole as a lever, they 
managed to launch the heavy craft. 

As the lake was quiet, they paddled in the 
open lake to the eastern point of the long pe- 
ninsula and hid their dug-out in the bushes 
opposite the French fort, which was located on 
a short peninsula, jutting into the bay from 
the mainland. Then they ate their supper, 
rolled themselves in their blankets and lay 
down to sleep. 


CHAPTER V 


THE FEENCH BOY 

When day dawned, they discovered that 
their dug-out was not well concealed, but they 
did not dare to move it to a safer place for 
fear of being discovered by the sentinels in the 
corner blockhouses. 

Both lads realized that they were in a very 
dangerous place. If they were discovered, 
they would surely be made prisoners, if they 
were not shot as spies. Moreover, their pro- 
visions were running so low that they had only 
enough left for one or two days, and their ap- 
petites grew every day they were out. 

What can we do now? ’’ asked Jack. 

I don’t know,” Frank admitted. Let us 
go along the point a little way and hide under 
the bushes. Then we can see what is going on 
around the fort and can watch any boat that 
comes out on the bay.” 

Frank, the older boy, was used to this kind 
43 


THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


U 

of work, but to Jack tbe time passed torment* 
ingly slow. 

Frank,” be suggested, when tbe sun 
showed that it was about noon, wbat is tbe 
use of tbis? We are not finding out anything. 
Why can’t we just paddle across tbe bay and 
walk into tbe fort and tell tbe commander that 
we are looking for our young brother? ” 

Do you think be would believe that story? 
He would not. He would take us for Ameri- 
can spies. And even if be did not think we 
were real spies, be would not let us go again, 
because be would not want us to go and tell 
tbe Americans about tbe strength of bis 
fort.” 

^^But we are just killing time,” objected 
Jack. 

Maybe we are,” Frank granted. 
have lots of it to kill. Playing Indian and 
scout takes patience. If you are not going to 
be patient, you might as well go home, and let 
me follow tbe trail alone.” 

In tbe afternoon two Indians left tbe fort in 
a bark canoe and paddled east along tbe main- 
land. 


THE FKEJSrCH BOY 


45 


Frank, I have a plan,” whispered Jack. 

Let us try to capture some Indian that comes 
out of the fort.” 

You mean,” replied Frank, to capture an 
Indian on the road to Le Boeuf Creek? That 
would not do us any good. Jack, even if we did 
catch one. We could not understand him, 
even if we could make him talk.” 

Then, what can we do? ” Jack asked impa- 
tiently. 

Nothing, but just lie still and watch.” 

The hours wore away slowly. Butterflies 
and bees were busy on the flowers, a catbird 
mewed at the intruders of his grape-vine tan- 
gle, and a flock of blue jays screamed frantic- 
ally in the trees above the boys. 

“ Those pesky jays will give us away,” Jack 
feared. 

^^Let them scream,” Frank laughed. ^^If 
anybody hears them, he will think they are 
mobbing an owl. They will fly away after 
they have looked us over.” 

A little later, the fish began to jump for 
flies; and Jack wished very much that he 
could go out in the dug-out and try his luck 


46 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


witli them. ‘‘It looks like a mighty good 
place,” he remarked. 

A little later a canoe left the landing and 
headed straight across the bay for the point 
near which the boys lay concealed. 

A boy of Jack^s age anchored the canoe 
within a stone^s throw and began to fish. 
Jack became much excited as he watched the 
French lad pull out large perch and croppies, 
^^'ow he had hooked some large gamey fish, 
which almost upset his canoe, as he dashed 
this way and that, and jumped with a quick 
silvery flash out of the water. 

He’s got a big bass ; he’s got a bass ! ” 
whispered Jack. 

Then the boy’s pole snapped, and the fish 
ran away with the line and the detached tip of 
the pole. 

The boy uttered some exclamation in 
French. Then he pulled up his stone anchor 
and paddled straight for the point where 
Frank and Jack were hiding. 

“ He is coming ashore,” whispered Frank, 

to cut himself a new pole. Lie still. Jack, 
and watch me.” 


THE FRENCH BOY 


47 


It took the French lad only a few minutes 
to cut and trim a straight ash sapling. When 
he had put his clasp-knife in his pocket he 
started for his canoe. 

Now Frank arose quickly and stepped be- 
tween him and the canoe. Hello, boy ! he 
said quietly. “ They’re biting fine. Come 
here, Jack.” 

For a second the French boy looked wildly 
about him and made a move as if he would 
reach for his knife. But when Frank waved 
his hand at him and said, ^^No fight, no 
fight ! ” the French boy lost his fear, and con- 
sented to sit down and talk. 

As Frank spoke a little French and the 
French boy understood a little English, the 
three lads got along quite well. 

The French lad’s name was Alois, Alois Du 
Valle. 

Have you seen an Indian with a white boy 
in the fort? ” asked Frank. 

Oui^ ouiy un Ottawa et un petit garcon/’ 
Alois told frankly. Yes, yes. An Ottawa 
and a small boy.” 

A few more questions brought out the fact 


48 


THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


that tlie Ottawa’s name was Uaguslieau, as 
Alois pronounced it, and that he and the hoy 
had left the fort the day before yesterday. 
They had started out along the shore, and 
Alois thought the Indian was going to take his 
captive to Fort Niagara. That was all Alois 
knew. The small boy had appeared to be well 
and not very hungry. He wore brown home- 
spun trousers, and shirt and home-made shoes, 
and Uagusheau bought him a blanket. The 
boy had light hair and blue eyes and red 
cheeks, but he had no hat. 

‘‘I bet he lost his hat in the brush,” re- 
marked Jack. He was always losing it at 
home.” 

The small boy is our brother,” Frank told 
Alois. “ We have come to look for him.” 

^^You will not find him,” predicted Alois. 

Jamais, jamais! Never, never! 

Ottawa take him to Fort Niagara, maybe 
to Montreal or to Lake Huron, to Isle Mani- 
toulin. Indians travel very far, all over,” said 
Alois, swinging both of his hands over his 
head to emphasize his statement about the 
wide roaming of the Indians. 


THE FEEKCH BOY 


49 


Frank was now convinced that they had all 
the information which Alois could give them, 
and he was much puzzled how he could feel 
sure that Alois would not tell all he had 
learned as soon as he returned to the fort. It 
would he ungrateful and mean to take Alois 
along a few days as prisoner and then turn 
him loose. No, that wouldn’t do. They could 
not let him go hack to the fort right away and 
run the chances of having some French sol- 
diers or Indians set on their trail, and he made 
captives before they ever got away from the 
long peninsula. 

Jack seemed to read Frank’s thoughts and 
said rapidly, Keep him till dark and then tie 
him to a tree. They’ll find him.” 

‘‘ Shame on you ! ” Frank rebuked him. 
“ We shall do nothing of the kind.” 

Alois seemed to have some idea that his new 
friends were trying to solve some hard prob- 
lem, hut his guess at the difficulty was slightly 
wrong. 

Come home with me,” he said in French, 

and have supper.” 

‘^What does he say?” asked Jack, who 


50 


THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


judged from Frank’s face that Alois had said 
something which caused Frank to do some 
hard thinking. 

He wants us to go home with him for sup- 
per,” Frank interpreted. 

Good fellow ! ” exclaimed Jack. “ I have 
been starving for two days. I say we go ! ” 

As Frank had not replied either to Alois’ in- 
vitation or to Jack’s prompt acceptance, the 
French boy added, know, I Imow — a little 
path. Nobody see us. I fix big eat. You 
sleep in cabin. Go away early, when sun 
rise.” 

Frank recognized that in Alois they had met 
one of the members of the international, the 
universal republic of boys, whose straight- 
faced, big-hearted and clear-eyed members rec- 
ognize one another wherever they meet, the 
barriers of race and language notwithstand- 
ing. He wanted very much to join in Jack’s 
ready acceptance of Alois’ invitation. But he 
was no longer merely a care-free boy, who 
lives in the joy of to-day and takes no thought 
of to-morrow. 

The hard problems of frontier life had al- 


THE FEENCH BOY 


51 


ready crept into Ms worM. He Fad felt and 
taken part in tlie unavoidable conflict of tbe 
two white nations in America, the French and 
the English. He had stalked and been stalked 
by those strange, dark-skinned dwellers and 
hunters of the forest, whose habits and ways 
of living clashed so hopelessly with the life 
and habits of the cattle-raisers and farmers on 
the American frontier beyond the AJleghanies. 

He had oftjen listened to his father and 
other men tallang about these things, and al- 
ways he had come away with the feeling that 
the American frontier settlers could never be 
friends with the Indians and the French 
traders. The settlers must either go back east 
of the mountains or the Indians, the French 
traders, soldiers and forts must go. The two 
could never be friends and peaceful neighbors. 
As long as savage Indians found protection in 
the French forts, they would continue their 
raids in the American settlements, extending 
their stealing, murdering, and kidnapping 
even far east of the mountains. American 
settlers could not forever go on planting corn 
with one hand and holding a gun in the other. 


52 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Frark knew that this was the feeling all 
through Western New York, Pennsylvania, 
and Virginia. 

These thoughts flashed quickly through 
Frank’s mind. Why had Alois said he would 
“ fix big eat ”? Why hadn’t he said his mother 
would give them something to eat? 

“Where is your mother, Alois?” he asked. 
“ Is she in Montreal, or in France? ” 

“ Elle est morte, she is dead,” Alois replied 
in a low voice. “ She is buried at Fort Ni- 
agara. 

Mon Alois continued, ^^my father 

no care what I do. He trade with Indians, 
and play cards with soldiers.” 

And then he repeated more urgently, “ You 
come on. I fix big eat. You sleep in little 
cabin in corner of fort. No soldier see you.” 

Frank did not distrust the French boy, but 
the caution of the frontier scout and hunter 
was too strongly developed. 

“ No, Alois,” he replied, “ we can’t go into 
the fort. Your people and our people are at 
war. We can’t take the chances.” 

On these points Frank’s mind was made up. 


THE FEENCH BOY 


53 


But what could they do with. Alois? They 
could not let him go back now, they could not 
force him to go with them for a day or two, 
nor could they tie him to a tree, as Jack had 
suggested. That would be black ungrateful- 
ness. 

Frank sat down to think it over. What in 
the world could they do with this French boy? 


CHAPTEE VI 


THE PLANS OF ALOIS 

^^CoMB with US across the bay,” asked 
Frank, as he took a Mexican silver dollar out 
of his pocket, and showed it to Alois. I give 
you this, if you come with us across the bay.” 

Give him now,” demanded Alois, ‘‘ then I 
come. But I go get eats first.” 

No, you don’t get eats first,” objected 
Frank, ‘‘ you come and eat with us in the for- 
est over there,” and Frank pointed southward 
to the mainland. 

Bien, all right,” replied Alois, I come.” 

As it was almost dark, and no boat or canoe 
was seen on the bay, Frank considered it safe 
to start. He would skirt, for some distance, 
in the shadow of the timber of the long, cres- 
cent-shaped point, before he would cut across. 

We can all three ride in our dug-out,” he 
suggested. 


54 


THE PLANS OF ALOIS 


65 


Dug-out? ” asked Alois surprised. Is lie 
yours? I thought Indians leave him.^’ 

But Frank failed to persuade Alois to ride 
in the dug-out. 

“ It is safe/’ Jack pointed out. We stuffed 
rags and grass into the cracks, and it is water- 
soaked now.” 

“ No, I ride in canoe,” insisted Alois. 
“ Take too long to walk home through woods. 
I fall over roots and logs.” 

Frank let the French boy lead the way, for 
he was a little afraid that Alois might change 
his mind, for he had said several times that he 
had grande faim^ grande faim/’ great hun- 
ger, great hunger. 

When they had landed on the south shore 
and gone into the forest a little way, Alois 
took a piece of punk and a steel and flint from 
his pocket and started to build a Are. 

Frank and J ack tried to tell him that it was 
not safe to build a Are, but he laughed at them, 
saying, Frenchmen all in fort or in their 
cabins. No Indian here. All clear out after 
English take Fort Du Quesne.” 

Although Frank knew only too well that not 


66 


THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


all the Indians had left the country after the 
fall of Fort Du Quesne, he let Alois build his 
fire. For several days he and Jack had not 
eaten a bite of warm food, and the temptation 
to eat a meal of fresh broiled fish and drink 
some hot tea was too strong ; for a chilling fog 
had settled over the lake and the forest. 

Alois gave all his fish to his friends, but he 
finished the last piece of their roast venison. 

catch plenty more fish,” he told his 
friends, but Frenchmen no good hunters.” 

When every bit of food had been eaten, the 
American boys thought that Alois would now 
leave them, but they were not yet through 
with their captive; for Alois, it seems, had 
now formed plans of his own. 

^^No boy in fort like you and me,” he ex- 
plained. I sit round, go fish, go trap, stay 
in woods all night, but no boy. 

We build big fire now, lie down sleep. To- 
morrow I go with you. I can talk little to In- 
dians; Ottawa, Chippewa, Iroquois, Missisau- 
gas. Maybe we find little brother pretty soon 
and bring him home.” 

No, no, that won’t do, Alois,” Frank pro- 


THE PLANS OF ALOIS 57 

tested. Your father would think you were 
lost.” 

Mon peref ” Alois argued with a sad smile 
on his face, Mon peref He no care. He 
think I go off find mink and otter to trap by 
and by. Or go off with Indians, or go off hunt 
deer, maybe. He play cards and drink wine 
with soldiers. No, he no care ! ” ^ 

“ No, it wouldn’t do ! ” Frank again ob- 
jected. ^^We can’t sleep near a big fire, and 
you must not go with us. Here is your Mexi- 
can dollar, and now you must go home ! ” 

Alois took the coin. However, his manner 
showed clearly that he did not want to go back 
to Fort Presque Isle. 

But after a little he turned the coin over 
and over in his hand, held it near the fire, and 
at last tested the hardness of it with his teeth. 

Don’t break your teeth, Alois ! ” cried 
Jack. You can’t bite that. It’s real silver. 
Frank and I aren’t a couple of cheats ! ” 

But Alois was not satisfied before he had 
tested the dollar with his knife. Then a smile 
spread over his face. 

Sacre!^’ he exclaimed. II est d’ argent. 


58 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 

Sure. It is silver. I make kiin big. Pound 
him flat, like this.’^ And he showed his friends 
by means of two stones how he would make 
the dollar big, very big ! ’’ 

I trade him to Indians for skins. Maybe 
get three otter, maybe six beaver.” 

Then he arose and slowly walked through 
the dark, wet brush to his elm-bark canoe. 

revoivy my friends ! ” he said after he 
had slowly shoved his canoe into the lake. 

Good-bye, friend, good-bye ! ” Frank and 
Jack called in a low voice. 

You no find little brother. Never, never ! ” 
Alois said, pushing off with his paddle. You 
no can talk to Indians. You come back. I 
go along and talk to Indians.” And then 
Alois and his canoe vanished into the fog. 

For a minute Frank and Jack listened for 
the stroke of his paddle. Then all was silent 
except the rippling of the water, as the waves 
of a gentle swell broke on the shore. 

Frank and Jack stood alone in the darkness 
and the fog. Alois was gone. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE SIGNAL 

I DON^T see Ilow you could send him away/^ 
Jack accused Ms brother. ‘^He wanted so 
much to go with us.’’ 

How could we take him?” Frank defended 
himself. ‘^We haven’t a scrap to eat, and I 
can’t tell what he would do if we got into a 
pinch, because I don’t know him well enough. 
Many of these Frenchmen are pretty lawless 
and careless.” 

I wish we could have taken him,” Jack 
again expressed his liking for the boy. I am 
afraid he will get lost in the fog. Let us go 
and find a place to sleep. I am tired and 
chilled all through.” 

^^Well, brother Jack,” Frank replied seri- 
ously, you have to get over being tired and 
cold. Before we lie down to sleep, we have 
to put as many miles as possible between our- 
59 


60 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


selves and this French fort. There is no tell- 
ing how many French and Indians will travel 
to-morrow on the road from the Lake Erie 
landing to Le Boeuf Creek. And you forget, 
Jack, that Alois will most likely tell about us 
in the fort.” 

“Alois give us away?” Jack questioned. 
“ You know he will not, Frank.” 

“I am not so sure about it,” the older 
brother answered. “He will not do it in 
order to harm us. But remember that Alois 
has some big news for that lonely little fort 
away out on the point. 

“ Supposing you had been made prisoner by 
the French, and you had eaten with your cap- 
tors, and had learned of their plans, and they 
had given you a big silver coin, and then you 
had escaped? Could you have walked into 
our cabin and never said a word about it? 
Jack, you know you couldn^t, you would have 
burst to tell us all about it.” 

“Well,” Jack objected diffidently, “that 
would be different.” 

“ Yes,” Frank admitted, “it would be just 
a wee bit different from the story Alois has to 


THE SIGNAL 


61 


tell. You know a good many boys can’t keep 
a secret any more than girls. And Alois 
really has a big story. 

I wager in less than an hour after he gets 
back, he will have the whole garrison gathered 
around him and talk French to them faster 
than they can follow him. He will tell them 
we tried to shoot him, and how he drew his 
knife and grabbed one of us by the throat and 
then pitied us and gave us something to eat, 
and so on.” 

What! ” exclaimed Jack. Do you think 
he is that kind of a big liar? Then why didn’t 
you let me tie him to a tree? ” 

Not such a very big liar,” replied Frank, 
laughing. The story will just naturally look 
different with all the soldiers and Indians sit- 
ting around, and Alois the hero of a real ad- 
venture ! ” 

^^Well, maybe,” Jack replied, ^Hhe French 
are all big liars.” 

Oh, you need not go to the French to find 
them,” Frank retorted. “ How about the 
seven big bass you and Fred caught in Cone- 
wango Creek? And the ’possum that was as 


62 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


big as a dog? But come, let us get away from 
here.” 

Can you find a trail in tbe dark? asked 
Jack. I couldn’t.” 

Find a trail? Why, Jack, we are not go- 
ing on any trail. We are going in oui* dug-out 
down the lake.” 

I am afraid of that big lake,” Jack con- 
fessed. We might get lost on it in the fog. 
Why can’t we travel through the woods? ” 

We would only wear ourselves out,” Frank 
explained, “ and get soaked from head to foot ; 
and besides, my plan is to travel in that dug- 
out all the way down Lake Erie to the rapids 
above Niagara Falls. I think it will be the 
easiest and safest way to go.” 

And where are we going now? ” Jack 
asked. 

^^Well,” explained Frank, ‘^Alois told us 
that the Ottawa had taken Fred down the 
lake. So I figure that the chances are ten to 
one that he went to Fort Niagara. If the 
French have plenty of provisions, Wagooshaw 
may be there now. For an Indian loves to 
hang around where food is plentiful. So I 


THE SIGHAL 


tMnk we should go to Fort Niagara. But the 
country from here to the fort is all under the 
control of the French, and their traders and 
soldiers are likely to travel back and forth be- 
tween Fort Niagara, Presque Isle, and De- 
troit. So you see. Jack, we are in dangerous 
country, and I think we had better travel at 
night and lie low in the daytime. Let us get 
started.” 

The lake was almost entirely quiet, with a 
dense fog covering forest and water. 

“ Steer her along close to shore,” said Jack, 

so we don’t get lost. I am afraid of this big 
lake.” 

It did not take very long, however, before 
the trees on shore were no longer in sight in 
the dense fog. 

Frank, you are steering us into the open 
lake,” Jack cautioned. 

No, I am not,” claimed Frank, I am just 
trying to keep out far enough so as not to hit 
any rocks that are often scattered near shore.” 

For about half an hour the lads crept along 
in this darkness. No shore could be seen, and 
no stars were visible. Frank now turned the 


64 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


pirogue farther to the right hoping every min- 
ute to see the trees on shore or feel the craft 
grind on the bottom, but he could not even 
strike bottom with his paddle. 

Stop a minute, Jack,’’ he said. Which 
way is the wind coming? ” 

There is no wind,” replied Jack. 

Well, then, which way is the air moving? 
Frank asked. It was moving from the north 
when we started.” 

If nowadays a man becalmed in a fog 
wished to find out which way the air is mov- 
ing, he would probably strike a match, but 
matches had not been invented in 1759, when 
Frank and Jack Hopkins were trying to find 
their way down east on the south shore of 
Lake Erie. 

‘^Wet your hand and hold it up,” Frank 
told his brother. Maybe we can tell in that 
way.” 

^‘It isn’t moving,” said Jack, ‘^it is just 
dead. When we are not moving the air is not 
moving.” 

I guess you are right,” admitted Frank. 

I can’t tell anything about it, either. Let us 


THE SIGNAL 


66 


lie still and listen for sounds on shore. Per- 
haps we might hear the wolves howl.’’ 

But there was no sound, and after a while 
Frank suggested that Jack should lie down in 
the bottom of the dug-out and go to sleep. 

^‘Lie down and go to sleep?” protested 
Jack. ^^Do you think I want to wake up 
drifting Over the rapids down to Niagara 
Falls? Not I!” 

Jack, I am disgusted with you ! ” Frank 
replied. “ Where is your head and your 
nerve? I wish we were near the rapids, but 
we are a hundred miles west of them, so you 
need not worry about drifting over the fails 
just yet.” 

I guess I have lost my nerve,” confessed 
Jack. I’m cold and wet and tired out, but I 
do not feel a bit sleepy.” 

You could safely roll up in the blankets 
and go to sleep,” Frank urged again. “ I can- 
not see that we are in any real danger. We 
cannot be more than about two miles from 
land, at the most, but it is useless to paddle, 
when it is impossible to tell where we are go- 
ing. We should have poled along in shallow 


66 


THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


water, if I liad not been afraid of splitting tbe 
old rotten tub on a rock. She has scarcely an 
inch of sound wood in the bottom, and I wish 
very much to have her last till we reach Fort 
Little Niagara.” 

^^Fort Little Niagara? Where is that?” 
asked Jack. 

^^It is a French post, just a ^mall place, 
with a warehouse, some cabins and stables, 
about a mile above Niagara Falls, a little 
way above the rapids. It is the beginning 
of a seven-mile portage around the falls 
to Joncaire^s Trading House below the 
rapids, and about six miles below the big 
falls.” 

I am all mixed up now,” said Jack. I 
thought the rapids were above the falls. 
Where are they? ” 

There are rapids both above and below the 
falls,” Frank explained, about a mile of 
them above and about six miles of them below 
the falls. Boats coming from Lake Erie have 
to land at Fort Little Niagara, and boats com- 
ing from Lake Ontario have to land at Jon- 
caire^s Trading Post. The long, seven-mile 


THE SIGNAL 67 

portage is between Fort Little Niagara and 
Joncaire’s Trading Post.” 

Jack was satisfied that he understood, but 
he asked, Which rapids are the worst? ” 

They are all bad,” Frank explained, but 
the first stretch below the falls, the Whirlpool 
Eapids, are the worst. However, any boat that 
gets caught in the rapids above the falls is 
doomed to go over the falls; unless, by sheer 
luck, the boatmen should reach one of the 
islands just above the falls. But even then a 
man would be lost, for he could not get off the 
island and nobody could get to him from 
land.” 

^‘You look out, Frank,” Jack said again, 
^^that we don’t drift into those rapids! I 
think we are lost.” 

Don’t be a baby. Jack,” Frank replied im- 
patiently. Didn’t I tell you that we are a 
hundred miles west of the rapids and the 
falls? And we are not lost, either; we are 
just becalmed in a fog. Listen ! Perhaps we 
can hear a sound from land, but do quit acting 
the baby I ” 

I hear a sound,” Jack claimed after a little 


68 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


while. IFs an owl. — No it isn’t, either. It 

is a dog howling and barking.” 

“ It sure is a dog,” Frank agreed. That’s 
our signal. Do you know where we are, Jack? 
We are headed straight for the landing at the 
French fort. I don’t see how I got turned 
around that way.” 

Vessels travelling on the Great Lakes to-day 
are guided at night by numerous lighthouses ; 
and in foggy weather, great fog-horns sound 
every few minutes at all important ports. In 
the days of the French and Indian War there 
was not a lighthouse or fog siren on the Great 
Lakes. With the exception of a few forts and 
trading-posts, the whole country around the 
Great Lakes was a wilderness, inhabited only 
by widely scattered tribes of Indians. 

Jack was at last assured that he and Frank 
were not lost and he lay down in the boat and 
fell asleep. 

Some time past midnight a breeze sprang 
up, and very soon Frank could tell by the 
stars which way to steer, and when the morn- 
ing dawned, the brothers had paddled some 
ten miles down the lake. 


CHAPTER VIII 


NO FOOD 

It would not have been difficult to secure 
some kind of meat if the lads had not been 
afraid to use their guns; but in this region, 
where hostile Indians might be camping any- 
where and where parties of Frenchmen might 
be travelling on the forest trails or on boats 
along the shore, it was too dangerous to fire 
their guns. 

After they had landed and pulled their dug- 
out into a safe hiding-place, they rolled up in 
their blankets and slept several hours, for they 
were more tired than hungry. 

When they awoke they felt keenly hungry. 
It was the first time in their lives that they 
had this experience, very common to Indians 
and all primitive men, of being hungry with 
no food in sight. 

^^It was foolish of us,” said Jack gloomily, 

to run off with so little to eat. We might 

have taken some flour or beans.” 

69 


ro THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


We could not carry any more than 
we took, if we wanted to travel fast,” ob- 
jected Frank, and I thought we might 
catch that Indian before he got into a French 
fort.” 

‘‘I don’t see or hear a thing,” continued 
Jack, “but a few small frogs, and we would 
have to catch about a hundred of them to 
make a fair meal of frog legs, and I hate kill- 
ing frogs.” 

Some years previous in early fall, Frank 
and one of his American scout friends had 
lived a week on black walnuts, wild rice, and 
duck potatoes, but now, in the middle of July, 
the walnuts were only good for dyeing and 
pickling, the wild rice was still in bloom and 
the duck potatoes had only just begun to grow 
on the roots of the arrow-leaves in the marshes. 
Hot even any wild fruit was to be found, ex- 
cept a few sour gooseberries. 

“Don’t eat too many of them. Jack,” cau- 
tioned his brother. “ They might upset your 
stomach, and you will be hungry again as soon 
as you stop eating. One might get along a 
few days on ripe huckleberries or blueberries, 


NO FOOD 71 

but all other wild berries do not satisfy a hun- 
gry man.” 

The lads walked slowly along a small creek, 
both wondering what they might be able to 
find to satisfy their hunger. Perhaps, Frank 
thought, they might find a late nest of grouse 
or wild turkey. A grouse suddenly whirled 
away with great noise, as is the habit of all 
our wild chickens. Both boys threw their 
sticks at it, but the bird disappeared in the 
forest like a gray streak. 

Couldn’t we snare some rabbits?” asked 
Jack. 

We could,” Frank replied, if it were win- 
ter, but in summer we might not catch one in 
a week.” 

Well, I see,” said Jack peevishly, where 
we have to go and surrender to the French at 
Fort Presque Isle or starve to death in these 
woods.” 

In the northern forests of pine and spruce, 
the boys would soon have found a porcupine, 
which any man can kill with a stick, and 
which has furnished meat for many a hungry 
timber cruiser, but the woods south of Lake 


72 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Erie are indeed a lean country in midsummer 
for a man wlio cannot use some weapon to 
hunt with. 

Listen/’ whispered Jack, as the boys were 
resting a few minutes. I hear something. 
What is it? It sounds like the crawling of a 
big snake, or wildcat. Brr! I wouldn’t eat 
a snake or a wildcat if I am ever so hungry ! ” 

Stay here,” said Frank. I’ll go to see 
what it is.” 

Look out, Frank! ” Jack called after him. 

Maybe it’s a skunk. Don’t you go near 
him ! ” 

But Frank had already caught his game, 
and Jack heard him strike with his hatchet 
several times. 

“ I have got him ! I’ve got him ! ” Frank 
called as he returned, carrying by the tail a 
big turtle, which he had just caught and killed 
as nearly as you can kill a turtle by cutting 
his head off. 

You aren’t going to eat that horrid 
thing? ” asked Jack. 

“It won’t be horrid after we have cooked 
it,” claimed Frank. “ It will do till we catch 


NO FOOD IS 

something that is better. You wait and 111 
show you.^’ 

Dressing a turtle was something new to 
Jack and he watched with much interest as 
Frank split the turtle shell with his hatchet 
and then carefully peeled small strips of some 
very white and of some dark meat out of the 
shell. 

A turtle is built on a plan of his own. His 
ribs have been united into a kind of box or 
case, and many of his muscles are attached to 
the inside of his shell. In this respect a turtle 
resembles crabs and insects that have all their 
flesh or muscles attached to the inside of their 
skeleton. 

It took scarcely ten minutes before Frank 
had a kettleful of turtle meat boiling over a 
bright Are, for the boy pioneers of those days 
were as quick in getting water to boil as the 
best Boy Scouts are to-day. 

^^That meat looks good,” remarked Jack, 
but it smells like fish.” 

Never mind the smell of the broth,” re- 
plied Frank. Fll pour that off and boil the 
meat done in fresh water.” 


74 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


In a little more than half an hour the meat 
was done and the lads had their first meal of 
meat they had found in the woods. It tasted 
somewhat like veal, and there was no smell or 
taste of fish about it. 

“ I never would have thought that one could 
make a clean meal on turtle meat,” said Jack. 

I think I should have starved if you had not 
been with me.” 

It is a very poor scout,” replied Frank 
with a laugh, who would starve in the woods 
in summer. There is a lot of good meat to be 
found, if one can build a fire to cook it. If it 
were not so late in the season, we might find 
some eggs of turtles. They are very good eat- 
ing, scrambled in the frying-pan or on a hot 
stone, but they do taste just a little bit fishy.” 

After the lads had finished their breakfast, 
there was but little left for the next meal. 
Clearly they could not depend on catching 
many large turtles; they had to find some 
other way of securing food. 

We have Aplenty of time,” said Frank, so 
let us try to make bows and arrows.” 

Almost any boy can make a toy bow, but to 


NO FOOD 75 

make a bow wMcb will kill game is a very 
different matter, 

A good bow ought to be made of dry and 
well-seasoned wood, but that kind of wood the 
boys could not secure. The best they could do 
was to split a young hickory, and whittle out 
two bows, taking care to select pieces with a 
straight grain and without knot-holes or other 
flaws. 

For bowstrings Frank gathered the tough 
fibers of the wood nettle. The fibers of the 
growing plants were still too green, but the 
fibers of the dead plants of the previous year 
were easily separated from the rotten stalks 
and twisted into strings, which were surpris- 
ingly strong and did not stretch. 

^^Jack, they ought to work,’^ Frank ex- 
claimed with pride, when two bows, about four 
feet long, were each provided with a string of 
gray nettle. ^^But now comes the dlfhcult 
part. Can we make arrows that will fly 
straight and bring down the game? ” 

Frank knew that the Indians took much 
time and pains in making their bows and ar- 
rows, and that they seasoned and dried the 


76 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 

wood for months. But the two brothers had 
to make usable bows and arrows as quick as 
possible. So they cut about a dozen straight 
sticks about a yard long and less than an inch 
in diameter. These they first peeled and then 
notched at the end which was to be set on the 
string. In this way they made a number of 
fairly straight, blunt arrows ; but these arrows 
had no driving and killing power. The boys 
had neither stone nor steel arrow-heads, and 
their problem was to give enough weight and 
force to their blunt arrows to make them fly 
straight and bring down small game. 

I don’t see any way of doing it,” Jack de- 
clared. I guess we have to find some more 
turtles or something of that kind.” 

But Frank was not so ready to give up. He 
split several large lead bullets and hammered 
the pieces flat. Then he bent them over the 
ends of the arrows, hammered them down, and 
tied them firmly in place with twine of nettle. 

I know,” he remarked, the Indian hunt- 
ers would laugh at these makeshift arrows, 
but I bet that they will stun and bring down 
grouse and other small game. If you don’t 


NO FOOD YT 

believe it, Jack, stand up against a tree and 
give me a free shot at you.” 

Oh, no, you won’t try any of your arrows 
on me ! ” protested Jack. You stand up and 
let me try them on you. You put the heads on 
them. You tried an arrow on me on Cone- 
wango Creek once; now it is my turn to 
shoot.” 

In the end the lads each made several trial 
shots at their hats, but Frank decided that it 
was too near sundown to start in search of 
game. 

^‘Look for crabs under the stones in the 
creek,” he told Jack, but catch only the big- 
gest ones. I’ll build a fire and get some water 
boiling.” 

It was not very long before Jack had caught 
quite a mess of crabs, and Frank dropped 
about four dozen of them into a kettle of boil- 
ing water. 

In a few minutes, to the surprise of Jack, 
the crabs all turned red, and Frank said they 
were done and good to eat. 

^^Aren’t they poisonous?” asked Jack. 
never heard of people eating them,” 


78 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


No ; tEey are good/’ Frank told him. I 
only wish they were bigger, but then, we have 
a lot of them.” 

Jack discovered that there was a morsel of 
sweet meat in the big pinchers and in the tail 
of each crab, and the crabs together with a few 
pieces of turtle meat furnished the lads a fair 
meal. 

It is dark enough now to travel,” said 
Frank. When every scrap of meat had been 
eaten and water had been poured on the fire, 
the lads picked up their guns and kettle, their 
bows and arrows and started in their dug-out 
down Lake Erie. 


CHAPTER IX 


UNKNOWN DANGER 

The lake showed an entirely different char- 
acter from the preceding evening. The sky 
was clear, but a very considerable swell broke 
on the shore, in white, toppling waves with a 
never ending procession, although there was 
almost no wind. But after the lads had 
pushed their craft through these low breakers, 
they could paddle along without danger. 

^^We had better steer along about a mile 
from shore,” sugge^ed Frank. Parties of 
French or Indians may be camping near shore, 
and it is just as well if they cannot see us. 
They might hail us and might even take a shot 
at us, if we do not turn in, when they hail us.” 

There was no danger now of getting lost or 
turned around, the big dipper and the polar 
star stood out clearly on the sky, the shore line 
of dark woods was in plain sight, and from 
79 


80 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


time to time tlie hooting of owls and the howl- 
ing of wolves could be plainly heard. Now 
and then a fish jumped playfully out of the 
water, and the boys wondered if they could 
make any kind of fish-hooks, for they were 
painfully conscious that they would have to 
catch their next breakfast before they ate it. 

While the two brothers were thus meeting 
the difficult problem of finding their food as 
they went, they were in much greater danger 
of being captured by the French or by hostile 
Indians than they realized. 

When the two brothers left their home near 
Conewango Creek, it was vaguely known to 
the American settlers and probably also to the 
French at Venango that the Americans and 
English would try to capture Fort Niagara 
during the summer of 1759. But so little 
worried were the French by this report, that 
they had assembled a force of one thousand 
Indians and four hundred Frenchmen at 
Venango with the intention of attacking and 
retaking Fort Pitt, or Fort Du Quesne as they 
called it. 

It was the twelfth of July. The Indians 


UJSTKNOW]^ DANGER 


81 


had made many bark canoes, and the French 
had a large number of wooden boats. Venango 
was located near the present town of Frank- 
lin, Pa., at the junction of French Creek with 
the Allegheny. 

The French commander of the fort was hold- 
ing a great council with the Indians. He 
made a speech telling them that to-morrow 
they would start down the river in their canoes 
and boats and they would drive the hated red- 
coats and the American farmers away from 
Fort Du Quesne, and out of the whole country 
of the Belle Riviere, the Beautiful River, 
which was the old French name for the Ohio. 

As is usual in an Indian council, some In- 
dians were in favor of the proposed plan; 
others, especially some Iroquois, opposed it. 
While the great council was in session, two 
Indian runners arrived with letters from Cap- 
tain Pouchot, the French commander at Fort 
Niagara. Letters carried by special runners 
were important enough in those days to in- 
terrupt the greatest council. De Lignery left 
the council tent to read the letters. 

When he returned, his face looked serious, 


82 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


as the face of one who has just heard bad news. 
He made another speech to the assembled In- 
dians, saying : 

Children, I have just read bad news. Sir 
William Johnson, who lives at Albany, is 
bringing a big army of Americans and Eng- 
lishmen against our Fort at Magara. You 
know that this fort keeps open the trail into 
your country. If the English take this fort, 
your Great Father, the French King, can no 
longer send goods and guns to you. Many 
warriors of the Six Kations, your enemies, are 
with Johnson. I have orders to come at once 
and help my brother Pouchot to drive the Iro- 
quois and the English away from Fort Niag- 
ara. So we must go up Le Boeuf Creek and 
meet our friends at Presque Isle and then fall 
upon the English and the Iroquois at Fort 
Niagara and drive them away from Fort 
Niagara.’’ 

In this way the attack to retake Fort Pitt 
was abandoned, and De Lignery with his In- 
dian allies started for Presque Isle. Had 
Frank and Jack Hopkins not travelled with 
so much caution, they would surely have 


UNKNOWN DANGER 


83 


fallen into tlie hands of the French and their 
Indian allies, been made prisoners, and per- 
haps their scalps would have been brought to 
Fort Niagara, for neither the French nor the 
Americans could always restrain their Indian 
allies from waging war in the old savage fash- 
ion to which the Red Men had been accus- 
tomed for many centuries. 

On one point De Lignery had not told his 
Indian allies the real truth. 

William Johnson was no longer on the way 
to Fort Niagara. He was there. He had 
landed his men and boats on the sixth of July 
at the mouth of a small creek, now known to 
boys and men of that region as Three Mile 
Creek, because it is three miles east of old 
Fort Niagara. 

He had pulled his boats into a little pond, 
which the creek forms just before it enters 
Lake Ontario. He left his boats and provision 
there under a guard and marched his men 
through the woods to the French fort. When 
the French woke up next morning, the Ameri- 
cans and English had thrown up intrench- 
ments and the French were besieged. 


84 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


William Johnson had landed his men at 
Three Mile Creek, because that is the nearest 
place to the fort, where a fleet of boats can 
safely land and And a harbor. For many 
miles east of the fort the shore of Lake On- 
tario is so steep and high that even small boats 
And no protection in a storm. In fact, since 
the days of our story, the waves of Lake On- 
tario have cut away several rods of the shore, 
and the old French stone house would now 
be tumbling into the lake, if the United States 
Government had not built a strong sea wall to 
keep the waves from eating into the bank. 

In the old days, the French had their garden 
between the big stone house and the lake, but 
now the sea wall stands within twenty feet of 
the old fort. 

If Pouchot had been a better frontier 
soldier he would have met the Americans at 
Three Mile Pond and prevented them from 
landing. The pond is surrounded by woods to 
this very day, and in that case, the Americans 
and English could have been defeated as easily 
as Braddock was defeated on his way to Fort 
Du Quesne in 1755. 


UNKNOWlJif DANGER 


86 


After William Johnson had surrounded 
Fort Niagara he pressed the siege as hard as 
possible. Every night his men worked in the 
trenches to bring their cannons up a little 
closer. The French made a brave defence, but 
their artillery did but little damage. Johnson 
had placed a battery across the Niagara River, 
on the point of land which now belongs to 
Canada, and in this way he prevented any 
French vessel from bringing aid to Pouchot. 

Why the French did not place a battery and 
a small garrison at that point has never been 
explained. 

The French soon began to feel hard pressed. 
The wadding for their guns gave out, and they 
used hay instead. When the hay was used up, 
they stripped their beds of straw and even of 
sheets. 

At Montreal and Quebec, the French strong- 
holds, it was not even known that Fort 
Niagara was besieged. PouchoPs only hope 
was the relief which might come from Ve- 
nango, Presque Isle, and Detroit. 

This was the situation on the French and 
Indian frontier while Frank and Jack Hop- 


86 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


kins were trying to make their way to Fort 
Niagara, of whose close investment they had 
no knowledge. Nor did they know of the big 
relief expedition of French and Indians, which 
De Lignery hurried to take from Venango and 
Presque Isle down Lake Erie to Fort Niagara. 

The man who was at first in command of 
the American and English expedition against 
Fort Niagara was General Prideaux. But 
when he was killed by the explosion of one of 
his own guns. Sir William Johnson, who was 
much , respected by the Indians, assumed the 
official command. 


CHAPTER X 


AN UNTIMELY CALLER 

If the lads were not conscious of the danger 
surrounding them, they were as little aware 
of the good luck which had attended their 
journey thus far. 

While they were lost in the fog near Presque 
Isle, the two Indian runners from Fort 
Magara to Venango had passed them and had 
entered Fort Presque Isle. If the lads had 
been in the fort at that time, the commander 
would undoubtedly have made them prisoners. 
Thanks to the instinctive caution of Frank, 
they had escaped from this danger. 

When they landed at daybreak on the sec- 
ond morning after they had sent Alois back, 
they hid their dug-out near the mouth of a 
large creek. 

They were now about thirty miles from 

Presque Isle, and having observed no signs of 
87 


88 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


either Indians or French, they slept soundly 
till the sun stood high in the heavens. 

It must be almost noon,” remarked Frank, 
when they awoke. 

Before they started to hunt for their break- 
fast, however, each climbed a tall tree to scout 
for signs of danger. 

I think this is Cattaraugus Creek,” Frank 
told his brother. “ Three years ago we almost 
stumbled into an Indian village here, and we 
want to look sharp about us for Indians be- 
fore we begin to hunt.” 

The sun had just risen and the lads could 
see for miles east and west over the big lake. 

^^Look northeast, Frank,” said Jack. ^‘I 
think I see a canoe going west, up the lake. 
Three men are paddling it. Are they white 
men or Indians? ” 

^^They are Indians,” decided Frank, after 
he had watched them a minute. I can tell 
by their short, quick strokes. They are headed 
for Presque Isle and will not interfere with 
us.” 

As' no smoke of an Indian camp was visible 
in the woods along the creek the lads felt that 


AN UOTIMELY CALLER 


89 


they were safe and began tbeir hunt for food, 
each walking slowly along one side of the 
creek. 

Before long Jack stirred up a blustering 
grouse, which alighted on a tree close by. So 
delighted was Jack, when he brought it down 
with one of his blunt arrows, that he could not 
resist giving a shout. 

« I>ve got him ! I’ve got him ! ” he called. 

‘^Jack, if you don’t stop your noise. I’ll 
plunk an arrow in your ribs,” he called in a 
low voice. Any Indian would hear you half 
a mile off.” 

Hunters in those days did not waste much 
ammunition, they tried to make every shot 
tell. But Jack had never realized how careful 
a hunter must be with his arrows when he has 
nothing else to shoot with. Not only must he 
get very close to his game, but he must think 
of retrieving his arrow in case he missed his 
game. 

The lads were delighted that their bows and 
arrows really worked. Grouse, where they 
are not much hunted, get very tame, and by 
careful stalking, and by shooting only when 


90 


THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


they had approached within fifteen or twenty 
feet, the young hunters gathered in a dozen 
birds, without losing more than two arrows. 
Most of the grouse were half -grown birds of 
the season, but Frank said they would make 
fine eating. 

Some of the birds they boiled in their copper 
kettle, some they roasted over the fire, and 
half a dozen they wrapped in green leaves to 
keep for supper and the next breakfast. 

Aren’t you afraid to make a fire? ” asked 
Jack. 

Yes, I am,” admitted Frank. “ But we 
have to take the risk. I cannot make myself 
eat raw meat. Even the Indians hardly ever 
eat raw meat.” 

Wouldn’t it be great if we just had a few 
of Mother’s biscuits with these birds? ” re- 
marked Jack. “ I am so hungry now, that I 
think I could eat half the birds myself.” 

Two birds is all you get for breakfast,” 
replied Frank. But you may drink the 
broth. It is very good soup, although it has 
no rice or oats in it. We may not find a covey 
of grouse to-morrow.” 


AN UNTIMELY CALLEE 


91 


In the afternoon, Jack proposed that they 
both take a swim in the creek. ‘^We have 
not had our clothes off,” he said, since 
we left home, and I feel sticky and dirty all 
over.” 

So do I,” Frank agreed, but I am afraid 
to go in. Some Indians may be watching us 
now.” 

“ I see,” replied Jack. You are afraid 
they would steal our clothes.” 

No, not our clothes,” Frank answered 
laughing. They would make a rush for our 
guns, and probably for our scalps. But I want 
to take a swim as badly as you. Pour some 
water on the fire, and then let us slip up the 
creek a way.” 

When they had found a good swimming- 
hole, Frank told Jack to go in. “I shall 
watch,” he said, while you are in swimming, 
and you watch while I go in.” 

After both lads had enjoyed a swim. Jack 
said he felt awfully hungry again, and he 
thought it was time for supper. 

That turtle and those buggy-looking crabs 
we ate yesterday,” he added, did not have 


02 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


very mucli meat, and I am miglity glad we 
made some bows and arrows.” 

Tbus far the weather had been unusually 
fine. Some of the nights and mornings had 
been rather cool, but the brothers had crept 
close together under their blankets on a bed of 
dry leaves and grass, and in that way they had 
every day enjoyed a good sleep and did not 
feel worn out in spite of scant fare and hard 
travelling, l^or had the mosquitoes troubled 
them much, that unspeakable pest, which 
might have worn them out in the lake and 
river country of our Central West. 

However, a storm was now coming up over 
the lake. They could as yet hear no thunder, 
but they could see the lightning flash back and 
forth over a great bank of black clouds. 

Both boys watched anxiously the signs of 
the coming storm. Not a leaf was stirring, 
and the air had been exceptionally sultry and 
muggy all day. 

It looks pretty gruesome,” remarked Jack, 
as they looked out over the lake, which spread 
out endlessly, till it seemed to join the black 
clouds in the north. The waves were already 


AN UNTIMELY CALLER 


93 


astir, although on the south shore there was 
as yet not even a faint breeze. 

What do you think of it, Frank? ” asked 
Jack. “ Is it safe to start out? ” 

Frank looked wistfully out over the black 
expanse of water. 

^^It might be safe enough,” he answered 
after a while, ^^but we should get soaked, 
soaked to the skin. If we had a wide bark 
canoe, we might land and turn it bottom up 
and wait till the rain was over, but our heavy 
and narrow dug-out is no good for that. I 
think we had better go back in the woods and 
look for some kind of shelter, before it grows 
too dark.” 

The boys had no tent, not even a piece of can- 
vas, so they had to find or make some kind of 
shelter. 

Jack suggested a lean-to of brush, but 
Frank claimed that a lean-to was a very poor 
shelter. ^^It begins to drip,” he said, in 
about five minutes, and we may have to stay 
on shore all night.” 

Jack proposed that they stretch their blan- 
kets over a pole in the shape of a small tent. 


94: THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Then we would have to sit or lie on the 
ground all night without blankets around us/’ 
objected Frank, and I know you would be so 
cold that I would soon hear your teeth rattle.” 

When it was getting quite dark, and Frank 
was about ready to put up one of the blankets 
for a tent, they found a large hollow basswood, 
which a storm had blown down. 

Here is our shelter,” called Frank. You 
crawl into one end, and I into the other. You 
cut some brush for bedding. I will get two 
large pieces of bark to set into the openings, 
so the wind cannot beat the rain in on us, but 
you have to hurry, J ack. The wind is coming 
over the lake now. The kettle, bows and ar- 
rows, and the game you can set under the log. 
Our guns we have to take inside ; we can shove 
them into a hollow branch.” 

Any boy or man who has ever made camp 
late in the evening, with a storm coming up, 
will know that neither Frank nor Jack was 
slow about his task. The clouds had now 
spread over the whole sky, the thunder was 
already rumbling overhead, and it was fast 
getting dark. 


AN UNTIMELY CALLEK 


95 


You Lad better crawl in, Jack,’’ suggested 
Frank. I think we should sleep with heads 
together and feet toward the openings. Keep 
your shoes on, for it may blow in a little at the 
ends. There is a crack over your bed, but I 
shall tie a long piece of bark over it to keep 
you dry.” 

Before Frank crept into the log, he fastened 
a round piece of bark at Jack’s feet, and then 
he crept into his own lair, and pushed a piece 
of bark in place at his own feet. 

“ Jack, you surely made us a fine bed,” he 
remarked, as he stretched himself out. That 
was a capital idea of yours to spread a lot of 
dry leaves over the brush. Do you hear that 
dull roar? It is either a big wind or a heavy 
rain. We are lucl^y to have found this 
den.” 

A few big drops began to pelt and splash 
down on the log. Now they began to fall 
faster, and within a few minutes the clouds 
seemed to open and pour torrents of water 
mixed with hailstones upon the old log, with 
a great rumbling, splashing noise. 

Great heavens ! ” exclaimed Frank. 


96 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


^‘Hear it coming down! Wouldn’t we get 
soaked under a brush, lean-to? Is your place 
dry, Jack? ” 

As dry as our bed at home,” replied Jack. 

My place does not leak a drop.” 

All right then. Jack. Let it rain. We’ll 
have a good long sleep. This night travel is a 
pretty hard game.” 

For a little while the boys listened to the 
wild music of thunder and rain, and watched 
the gleam of the lightning through the small 
openings at their feet. 

More furiously crashed the thunder and 
splashed the rain, as if a cloudburst passed 
over the forest. A tree close by was felled by 
the lightning or rent asunder. 

“ You need not be afraid,” whispered Frank. 
^‘We are much safer here than we would be 
sitting up under the tall trees.” 

The water in the creek near by began to 
gurgle and roar. 

Frank, how is our dug-out? ” asked Jack. 

I’m afraid the water will carry it off.” 

It is safe,” Frank assured him. I tied it 
to a tree.” 


AN UNTIMELY CALLER 97 

After a while Jack said it felt close and 
stuffy in the log. 

^^Push out the hark at your end,” Frank 
told him. The wind is coming from my end, 
so we do not need to close our room at your 
end.” 

Now the violence of the storm began to sub- 
side. However, a second shower soon followed 
the first, but before this crossed the lake and 
broke over the forest, both lads were sound 
asleep in their warm dry bed of leaves and 
brush in the big log. 

The sky in the east toward the great rapids 
and falls was turning a brilliant red, a soft 
gray light pervaded the forests and a few birds 
began to call, when Jack was disturbed by 
something tugging at his blanket. 

Oh, don’t, Frank,” he muttered, still half 
asleep. It’s raining. Let me sleep.” 

But the disturber would not quit. With a 
vicious grab he wrenched away the blanket, 
and Jack felt as if some of his skin was being 
pulled off by the tines of a rake. 

He was awake with a start and yelled at the 
top of his voice : 


98 


THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Get out ! Get out there ! — Frank, a bear 
is trying to eat me ! ” 

Both lads slipped out of their holes at once. 
A few rods away a young black bear stood up 
on his hind feet and looked at the boys with 
a scared, quizzical expression. 

^^Move off! You fool idiot!” called Jack, 
as he threw a stick at the bear, who seemed 
inclined 10 come back. 

Fool idiot ! ” repeated Frank laughing. 

I reckon that is what he is thinking of us.” 


CHAPTER XI 


THE GHOST FORT 

Xeither of the boys was any longer sleepy 
after the beards visit, and they were very 
thankful that the bear had not eaten their 
grouse, which had been hidden under Frank^s 
part of the log. 

That bear must be a foolish youngster,’’ 
Frank said laughing. ‘‘ He has probably 
never seen a man, for an old bear would never 
have tried to pull us out of bed.” 

When the boys returned to the log to take 
out their guns, before they started a fire for 
cooking breakfast, they found signs, which ex- 
plained still further this bear’s strange be- 
havior. There were many claw marks at both 
ends of the log which showed that a bear had 
often entered the hollow log; but in their 
hurry and in the growing darkness, the boys 
had failed to observe these bear signs on the 
previous evening. 


99 


100 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Tlie hollow log was one of the young bear’s 
sleeping quarters on his hunting and feeding 
trail. He had been out on an early hunt for 
breakfast. Probably he had picked up a lot of 
stranded fish along Cattaraugus Creek, per- 
haps also a few benumbed young grouse and 
turkeys, and now he intended to crawl into the 
dry, airy log to sleep during the warm hours 
of the day. When he discovered that some 
other creatures had in his absence taken pos- 
session of his camp, he started to pull the in- 
truders out. 

“Well, Jack, you may sleep some more, 
while I go hunting for meat,” said Frank. 

“Not I!” protested Jack. “Never again 
in that log. Ding you, Frank, I think you 
knew this was a bear’s den.” 

“ You need not worry any more about that 
young bear,” replied Frank laughing. “ He 
will not go near this place for a week. He 
is better acquainted in these woods than you 
and I, and you may be sure he knows of sev- 
eral other good sleeping-places.” 

Before they resumed their journey, they 
caught several large fish, which had been left 


THE GHOST FORT 101 

stranded, so to speak, in a pool left by tbe 
rapid falling of tbe high water. 

Frank bad not been any too careful with 
tbe dug-out. It bad swung around into tbe 
timber and was balf full of water and mud, 
and it took much bard work to push and drag 
it back into the creek. If Frank bad not tied 
it up, tbe flood would have swept it down- 
stream into tbe lake. 

This evening tbe lads made an early start, 
after scouting along tbe lake shore for signs 
of danger. 

Soon after midnight they saw tbe western 
or rather tbe northern shore of tbe lake op- 
posite tbe present city of Buffalo. 

Frank, we are getting to tbe rapids,’’ 
warned Jack, as be felt tbe dug-out carried 
along by a swift current. 

These are only tbe Little Rapids,” Frank 
assured him. ^‘Tbe real rapids are twenty 
miles away.” 

They were now running on a broad river, 
which raced along at tbe rate of eight miles 
an hour, but to Jack it seemed much faster. 

‘‘Go close to shore!” be urged Frank. 


102 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


^^Hear the noise. We can never stop our 
boat.” 

Jack, we don^t want to stop. I bave gone 
over these rapids twice. They are not danger- 
ous and there is perfectly quiet water beyond. 
Close to shore we might get swamped and lose 
our guns. Sit still and paddle ahead. The 
safest route is right in the current, not near 
shore, where the rocks stick out.” 

But it was imxDossible for Jack to paddle 
calmly ahead as Frank did. 

Thank God ! ” he whispered, when they 
had once more reached quiet water. Frank, 
maybe I am a coward, but I shall not go 
through any more rapids. I am afraid of the 
noise they make ! ” 

The sound of rapids ahead has something 
awe-inspiring. Even many a brave man has 
pulled ashore and walked down-stream to in- 
spect a small rapid, which, in the silence of 
the forest, and more yet in the stillness of the 
night, made to his keyed-up senses the roar of 
a great and dangerous waterfall. 

Frank, I hear the falls,” claimed Jack a 
little later. 


THE GHOST FOKT 


103 


The elder brother laughed at Jack. “ You 
hear a noise in your ears/^ he answered. The 
falls are over ten miles away, as the crow flies, 
and they are flfteen miles off the way we are 
going, east of Grand Island.” 

As soon as the flrst signs of daylight ap- 
peared, Frank landed on the east shore. 

Why don’t we land on the other side? ” 
asked Jack. The woods look good to me.” 

“ They do,” assented Frank, but they are 
on an island. That is Grand Island, and I do 
not like to land on an island. It is dangerous. 
If there are any Indians or French on the 
island, or if they see us land there, they would 
have us in a trap, and they would get us too. 
The river on both sides is half a mile wide, and 
wider in many places. If any Indians trailed 
us to that island, we should never get away.” 

They now pulled their dug-out behind some 
willow bushes, and lay down to stretch their 
legs, for they had to sit or kneel on the bot- 
tom, while they paddled their rather tippy 
craft. 

“We shall have breakfast,” said Frank, 
“ and you drink some hot chicken broth, before 


104 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


we find a place to sleep. The hot broth will 
be good for your nerves.’^ 

If hot wild chicken broth is good for the 
nerves,” retorted Jack, you ought to drink a 
lot of it. Do you know that you have been 
talking about dangerous Frenchmen and In- 
dians ever since we left home? And we 
haven’t seen a single Frenchman but poor 
Alois, and I am not sure that we have seen 
any Indians at all. For my part I don’t be- 
lieve there is a Bed Man or a Frenchy left in 
this whole country. I think they have all 
cleared out. 

Frank, you are the worst scared fellow of 
Frenchmen and Indians I ever saw. I’m go- 
ing to give you my share of the hot broth. I 
am only scared when we come to any nasty, 
roaring rapids, but you are scared all the 
time. 

“We have been sleeping in a bear’s den and 
crawling around ” 

“ Oh, dry up. Jack ! Dry up ! ” Frank in- 
terrupted him. “ I’ll show you a hundred In- 
dians and Frenchmen at Fort Little Niagara, 
and a thousand of them at the big Fort 


THE GHOST FORT 


105 


Niagara on Lake Ontario, if you are brave 
enough to go near them. 

I am not afraid of Indians, I am simply 
careful. It’s too late when they jump out of 
the brush all around you.” 

Before the lads sought a sleeping-place, they 
climbed a tall tree to get a view over the 
river, the island, and the woods on the main- 
land. 

Frank thought he saw a haze of smoke 
across the southern point of Grand Island on 
the Canadian shore. It rises near the mouth 
of Black Creek, just the kind of place they like 
for a camp,” he said. 

Where are the falls? ” asked Jack. 

Straight northwest, about eight or ten 
miles,” Frank told him. If the air over the 
river was not a little hazy, we might be able to 
see the cloud of mist that always rises above 
them.” 

I can hear them,” Jack claimed. It is a 
dull, deep sound like a storm in the forest far 
away.” 

Jack, you are just nervous on falls and 
rapids.” 


106 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Maybe I am/’ Jack admitted, but I can 
hear the falls.” 

One of the old settlers of Buffalo claimed 
that, on very quiet nights, he could hear the 
great falls at Buffalo. In those days, the air 
was not filled with the hum of cities and the 
noise of trains and factories, and while it is a 
little doubtful that they could ever be heard 
at a distance of fifteen miles, the distal ice from 
Buffalo, it is not impossible that they could 
be heard at a distance of eight or ten miles. 

The lads were compelled to remain several 
days opposite Grand Island on account of bad 
weather. The nights were windy and rainy, 
and so dark that the boys were afraid to take 
their wobbly dug-out on the big river. 

On this occasion they built themselves a 
shelter of bark and driftwood, for Jack would 
not sleep in another hollow log. 

When the weather again grew calm and 
clear. Jack would have preferred to abandon 
the dug-out and walk to Fort Niagara, but 
Frank would not hear of this plan. 

^^We shall get plenty of walking,” he ar- 
gued. Slashing around in the woods at 


THE GHOST FOKT 


107 


night is too hard, and we do not want to travel 
in the daytime, till we have some information 
about matters at Fort Niagara. 

“ You needn^t worry about the rapids,” he 
told Jack. As soon as we see the buildings 
of Little Niagara, we shall land.” 

“All I say is,” Jack replied, “that at the 
next rapids I shall get out. I don^t care 
whether you call them big or little.” 

“At the next rapids I shall get out, too,” 
Frank replied quietly, “ because they are the 
big rapids above the falls.” 

As they were slowly gliding down-stream, 
close to the right bank, Frank, who sat in the 
stern, thought he could see how tensely Jack 
looked ahead and listened for the dull roar of 
the rapids. 

Although the lads did not ply their paddles 
as they had done on Lake Erie, they glided 
swiftly past the dark, silent forest. 

Frank had expected to see the buildings 
and probably some lights at the Little Fort 
about midnight. The hour arrived, and he 
knew by the increasing swiftness of the cur- 
rent that they should be in sight of the fort, 


108 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


but not a light from the fort or an Indian 
camp-fire was visible ; there was no beating of 
drums, not even the barking of a dog. 

Frank, I hear the rapids,^’ Jack broke the 
silence, and he turned the bow of the craft 
toward shore. Let us get out.” 

I hear them, too,” Frank replied. But 
it beats me that we don’t see a light or hear a 
sound from land. We are within half a mile 
of the Little Fort, and we ought to be able to 
see even the buildings now, but I can’t see a 
thing. If I believed in witchcraft, and evil 
spirits, I would say the country is bewitched 
or some spirit had taken us to the wrong side 
of the river. 

“ I know this river as well as you Imow 
Conewango Creek at home. I swear the fort 
is right ahead of us, but I can’t see it. Let’s 
get out and scout ahead on land.” 

There was no sight or sound except the dull 
foreboding roar of the rapids ahead, and the 
hooting of an owl in the forest. 

Listen,” whispered Frank. ^^Is that an 
owl, or is it an Indian? ” 

‘^It’s a big owl,” said Jack. 


Can’t you 


THE GHOST FOET 


109 


hear the blow in his throat? And he is up in 
the trees. An Indian wouldn’t be perching 
among the tree-tops. Would he? ” 

“ Hanged if I know, Jack. This is the old 
trail. The fort should be right ahead of us in 
that open space at the end of the woods, but it 
isn’t there. Or am I struck with blindness? ” 
It is not there ! ” said Jack. But what is 
that straight dark thing sticking up at the 
other end of the clearing? ” 

I see it, Jack,” whispered Frank. That’s 
where the fort ought to be, but it isn’t there. 
Does the ground around it look black to 
you? ” 

“ Yes, it does look kind of black.” 

“Let us sit down here and listen,” whis- 
pered Frank. “Is your gun primed? I am 
afraid of stumbling into an ambush. If a fort 
could be a ghost, I’d say Little Niagara has 
turned into a ghost fort. It was there three 
years ago, but it isn’t there now.” 

“ Frank, do you smell smoke? ” asked Jack. 
“ I do. The wind just turned a little.” 

“ Well, I declare ! ” exclaimed Frank. 
“ They’ve burnt the whole place. That’s the 


110 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


stone chimney over there. They have burnt 
everything and cleared out. Frenchies and 
Eeds, the whole outfit of them. 

Well, let^s go back and hide our boat and 
then find a place to sleep. I guess I can’t show 
you any Indians and a scalp-dance to-night. 

I wonder if they have burnt Presque Isle 
and the big Fort Magara and have all left for 
Montreal? I am ready for anything now.” 


CHAPTEE XII 


PRISONERS 

When the lads returned in daylight to the 
site of the abandoned fort, they were not left 
in doubt as to what had happened. Every 
building on the place, including storehouses, 
stables, and barracks, had been burnt. The 
stone chimney was the only thing left sta d- 
ing. 

There was no sign of white man or Indian 
about the place. There was not even a stray 
dog or cat. Who had burnt the place? If 
the English or Americans had taken the place, 
it seemed to Frank they would have occupied 
it, because it was the western end of the most 
important portage road in the whole of Xorth 
America. 

If the French had set the place on fire, why 
had they done so? And where had they gone 
with their Indian allies? To Presque Isle, to 
Detroit, or to Fort Niagara? 

Jack suggested that the fire had started by 
111 


112 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


accident. Perhaps lightning struck it on the 
night of the bad storm, but it looked as if some 
carts, tools, and guns had been piled up and 
destroyed on purpose. 

Well, we don’t have to worry about French 
and Indians,” Frank gave as his opinion, after 
they had scouted over the region and had in 
several places examined the road leading 
along the river to Joncaire’s Trading Post at 
t ^ present site of Lewiston. 

I tell you something Jack,” he continued; 

let us have some fun with our old pirogue by 
sending her over the falls. We shall never 
use her again. I have always wanted to see a 
boat go over these big rapids and over the 
falls. I do not see any signs of either Indians 
or French, so we might as well have a little 
fun.” 

Jack fell in at once with this plan. Yes, 
let us do it,” he assented. We have not had 
any fun since we left home.” 

They took the dug-out down-stream to the 
head of the rapids and then pushed it off as 
far as possible; while they ran swiftly along 
the bank, carrying nothing but their guns. 


PKISONEES 


113 


They had a hard time to keep up with the 
wild, plunging rapids, which swept the heavy 
dug-out along, as if it were but a chip of wood. 
Several times it struck a rock, but in a second 
it swung around and once more rushed for- 
ward on the crests of wild-rushing waves. 

Kun, Jack ! ’’ urged Frank. She will get 
to the falls ahead of us.” 

^^Ah, she is stuck ! ” exclaimed Jack, as the 
craft lodged on a rock a few rods above the 
falls. “ She won’t go over.” 

Come along ! ” called Frank. I think 
she is going to swing free.” 

In a few minutes the pirogue swung loose, 
and as the boys had just reached a point where 
they could see what happened, the long, heavy 
dug-out shot headlong over the outer edge of 
the American Falls and was dashed to pieces 
on the rocks below, but the roar of the falls 
drowned all sounds of the breaking up of the 
heavy boat. 

For a moment both lads stood speechless, 
watching for pieces of their boat to appear on 
the smooth water below, but they saw no sign 
of it. 


114 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Slie is gone,” said Frank. The pieces 
are sucked in between the rocks.” 

Both lads wished very much to cross over to 
Goat Island, called by the Indians Gawanota, 
the Sounding Island, and believed by them to 
be the abode of the Great Spirit, but there was 
no bridge in those days to this fine wooded 
island, which divides the great river into the 
American Falls and the Canadian Falls, now 
generally called Horseshoe Falls; and Frank 
warned Jack that attempting to cross on foot 
the wild, leaping rapids would be sure death. 

^^Even with a stout pole in your hands,” 
Frank argued, the force of the water would 
sweep you off your feet and carry you over the 
falls.” 

Both lads wanted very much to see the 
Horseshoe Falls close by, but the best they 
could do was to gaze at them from a point 
some distance below the present first Suspen- 
sion Bridge. 

So vast is the mass of water, which rolls 
here over the cliff and then drops a hundred 
and sixty feet, that the falls themselves are 
always partly hidden, during calm weather, 


PKISONEES 


115 


by a cloud of mist rising higher than the tops 
of the tallest trees. 

Jack had now lost his fear of the great 
river, and proposed that they look for a trail 
into the gorge and try to find a canoe to cross 
over. 

However, Frank would not listen to any 
such idea, and he laughed at Jack’s suggestion 
that they could swim across the stretch of 
quiet green water between the falls and the 
Whirlpool Eapids. 

We surely could not swim across with our 
guns,” he objected, ‘ j,nd we are not going to 
take a chance on being carried into the Wh’ 1 
pool Eapids. We are going to Fort Magara 
and find Wagooshaw and Fred.” 

It was hard for the lads to break away from 
the view of the deep chasm and the sight of the 
falls. When they did leave, they carried their 
packs and a young turkey, which they had 
shot with an arrow the day before, to a se- 
cluded spot about a mile east of the Portage 
Eoad, and in this place they cooked and ate 
their supper and made their bed for the night. 
After an exciting day, they rolled up in their 


116 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


blankets at sunset, and soon fell asleep, listen- 
ing to the distant, even thunder of Niagara. 

Having a feeling that a part of their dan- 
gerous journey was practically accomplished, 
they slept with a greater feeling of security 
than on any other night, and when, as usual, 
they awoke at daylight, they only pulled their 
blankets over their heads to sleep some more. 

From this extra sleep. Jack was the first to 
awake. 

Listen, Frank,” he called, I think I hear 
shooting.” 

Frank sat up, rubbed ais eyes and listened. 

There!” called Jack. “There’s another 
and another ! ” 

“Man,” cried Frank, “that’s cannons at 
Fort Niagara. The Americans and the Eng- 
lish are fighting with the French. We must 
hurry up and get there.” 

Jack was for leaving at once, but Frank 
insisted that they must first eat some break- 
fast. 

“ I did not mean that we should rush off like 
that,” he said. “ Remember, Jack, that shoot- 
ing is not just around the corner; no, we 


PRISOJS^EES 


117 


are still fifteen miles from Fort Niagara 
and we do not dare to follow the Portage 
Road, but have to pick our way through the 
woods.” 

^^Why can’t we march along the Portage 
Road?” Jack asked somewhat impatiently. 

You did not drink enough hot broth; you are 
just plain scared of Indians.” 

am scared of these that I can’t see,” 
Frank admitted freely. If there is fighting 
at Fort Niagara, then I am more sure than 
ever that Indians are passing back and forth 
between that fort and the French forts and 
Indian villages farther west. Most of the Six 
Nations are against the French, only the Sen- 
ecas were inclined to favor the French ; but if 
the war goes against the French, the Senecas 
are likely to desert them, for Indians, like 
most white men, try to be on the winning side. 
Most of the Western tribes like the Hurons, 
Ottawas, Shawnees, and Illinois are with the 
French, because the English have not reached 
their country. So you see. Brother, the In- 
dians are as much interested in this war as the 
whites, and I know that their scouts are going 


118 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


back and forth, informing the tribes of what is 
going on. And I also know that they are 
travelling with as much caution as we are, for 
that is Indian nature. 

Let us finish our turkey, for it will be near 
supper-time when we reach Sir William John- 
son^s camp.’’ 

Frank had begun to feel uneasy about J ack. 
The high-strung lad, who had never gone 
through anything of this kind, was looking 
thin and haggard. He had never complained 
of feeling tired or worn out, but Frank judged 
that it was only the excitement of the trip that 
kept him going. 

Travelling through the forests along the Ni- 
agara was indeed not as hard as going through 
the woods of Wisconsin and Minnesota, where 
the young trees and the underbrush over large 
areas are so thick as to be almost impene- 
trable, but even in the fairly open forest of big 
oaks, walnuts, beeches, and basswoods, travel- 
ling is quite tiring, when one cannot follow a 
road or a trail. 

For several hours the boys could hear the 
booming of cannon. 


PRISOlSrEES 


119 


Wliat do you think they are fighting 
for? ” asked Jack. 

Just now they are fighting for the posses- 
sion of Fort Niagara/’ explained Frank. 

But if the French lose Fort Niagara, they 
lose the whole country around the Great Lakes 
and along the Ohio clear to the Mississippi 
and St. Louis. 

If Fort Niagara is taken, the French set- 
tlements at Montreal and Quebec are shut off 
from the West, and the Western fur trade and 
the whole Indian trade of that region will fall 
into the hands of the Americans and the Eng- 
lish.” 

It was late in the afternoon when the boys 
caught sight of Fort Niagara and of the Amer- 
ican outposts. 

Fort Niagara is located on a point of land 
between the mouth of the Niagara River and 
Lake Ontario. For a quarter of a mile in 
front of the fort, the French had long ago 
cleared away all the timber, so that no Indians 
could creep up under cover. The besieging 
army of Americans and English had cut down 
some more of the forest, and had pushed their 


120 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 

trendies within easy and effective range of the 
fort. 

Frank took in the situation at a glance. He 
thought there were more than one thousand 
white men and five hundred Indians besieging 
the fort. How many Frenchmen were in the 
fort, he could not tell. 

Why don^t they come out and try to drive 
the Americans away? ” asked Jack. 

guess they are afraid/^ replied Frank, 
“to risk a pitched battle. If they lost, our 
men would take the place by storm, and the 
Indians would rush in and scalp every man 
they could get hold of. The Iroquois have al- 
ways hated the French ever since Champlain 
had a battle with them, a hundred years ago ; 
and it would be impossible to restrain them. 
Those Indian warriors are all a murderous lot. 
It is too bad that thev cannot be kept out of 
this war, but if we do not let them fight for us, 
they will fight against us with the French.^’ 

The question now was how to get through 
the line of sentinels into camp. 

“We must take our hats off and leave our 
guns here and walk into the open and call to 


PKISONEKS 


121 


that nearest sentinel/’ Frank advised. I 
hope the fellow is cool enough to look before 
he fires his long gun at us.” 

When the lads advanced unarmed and 
called, the sentinel turned sharp around, 
looked at them and motioned them to advance. 

Heavens alive,” he exclaimed, when the 
lads came up. Two starved white boys. 
Where are you from? Did you run away 
from the French and the Indians? ” 

No, we are from Pennsylvania, from Cone- 
wango Creek,” Frank told him. 

Well,” replied the sentinel, looking sharp 
at them, I left two boys like you at Albany 
on the Hudson. I have to turn you in as pris- 
oners, but I reckon I’ll take you with me to 
the mess tent first. There comes the corporal 
and the guard to relieve me. You fellows look 
more’n half starved.” 

We have been on short rations most of the 
time,” Frank admitted. We shall be glad to 
be prisoners in the mess tent for a while.” 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE CLASH 

The captain of the regiment sent word that 
he was too busy to see the lads that evening. 
Private Atkins should take care of his pris- 
oners. They were not to be allowed to leave 
the camp, for they might be French spies in 
disguise. 

The lads did not look to Atkins like spies; 
moreover, everybody could hear that they 
spoke English without a trace of French ac- 
cent. After they had given their word of 
honor that they would not try to escape, At- 
kins rustled an armful of hay and made them 
a bed in his tent. 

“ I had to grab the stuff pretty quick,” he 
said laughing. If the stable sergeant had 
caught me, he would have turned me over to 
the guard, because hay is a little scarce around 
here. But you boys look as if you needed a 
122 


THE CLASH 


123 


good bed, and they can turn the horses out on 
grass. The cavalry has nothing to do, any- 
how; we infantry men and the artillery have 
to do all the fighting.” 

The boys surely enjoyed a bed that was not 
wet with either dew or rain, and they had 
scarcely touched them when both were sound 
asleep. 

When the bugler called the reveille in the 
morning, they felt like new men ; but all that 
day they did little else but eat and sleep. 

On the following day a report ran through 
the camp that some Indian scouts had come in 
and had reported to Sir William Johnson that 
1,400 French and Indians were on their way 
from Presque Isle to relieve Fort Niagara, and 
that Sir William was going to send a part of 
his army up the river a mile or two to give 
battle to this host before they had a chance to 
attack the camp. 

Early next morning a part of the army 
marched quietly up the river and took a posi- 
tion in the timber on both sides of the road. 

Frank and Jack were allowed to join the 
command on their promise to Atkins that they 


124: THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


would remain close at liis side and take no 
chances of falling into the hands of the enemy. 

Indian runners brought word early in the 
morning that the French and Indians had 
landed at the site of Fort Little Niagara and 
were coming down the Portage Koad with a 

heap big noise.” 

It seems almost unbelievable that French- 
men and Indians so well versed in frontier 
warfare should travel with a heap big 
noise.” But the strange truth is that they 
really did come, not as a well-led army, but as 
a wild rabble, shouting and yelling, down the 
heights of Lewiston and on along the road to 
Fort Niagara. 

Near the present village of Youngstown, 
where the land is now covered with orchards 
of the finest apples, cherries, and pears that 
any boy could wish for, the Americans and 
English were posted in the woods and 
behind intrenchments awaiting the noisy 
mob. 

In less than an hour it was all over. In a 
wild flight the French ran back to their boats, 
hotly pursued by the .timericans and their al- 



In a wild flight the French ran back to their boats 

Page 124. 






THE CLASH 


125 


lied Iroquois. Many of tlie fleeing rabble were 
killed and others were made prisoners. Those 
that escaped, both Indians and French, fled to 
Detroit, to the Hlinois country and to Mon- 
treal. 

Late in the evening, after the Americans 
and English had returned to their camp 
around Fort Niagara, a boy appeared in camp 
asking for help to bring in a wounded French- 
man. 

He get shot,” the lad told in broken Eng- 
lish. ‘^I see Iroquois coming, painted all 
black. They come to scalp us all. Everybody 
run away. I drag man into thorn-bush. We 
hide. Two Indians come and look around. 
They no see us. They see other man run. 
They follow him. Wounded man and I lie un- 
der thorn-bush all day till dark. Once I get 
him water from river. He no can walk, maybe 
he die pretty soon.” 

A group of men had collected around the 
boy. Some would not believe his story and a 
corporal was just going to turn him over to 
the prisoners^ guard, when Frank and Jack 
joined the group. 


126 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


^^Alois ! Alois ! Wliere do you come from?’^ 
they called as with one voice. 

The French boy, wild-eyed, and getting still 
more excited, repeated his story and asked 
help to bring in the wounded man. 

Frank and Jack volunteered to go with 
Alois, and the lieutenant of the company or- 
dered four men to go with them. 

Look out for an ambush ! ’’ he warned as 
they marched off. 

No ambush ! No ambush ! ” Alois ex- 
claimed indignantly. I no lie. Man pretty 
near dead, I think.” 

It was not long before the men and the boys 
returned and carried the wounded man to the 
surgeon’s tent. 

Jack took Alois to the mess tent, and if 
Alois had any regrets about being a prisoner \ 
in the American camp, his appetite did not 
show it, for he had eaten nothing since early 
in the morning. 

Private Atkins now had three prisoners in 
his tent, and as soon as he was off duty the 
lads told him their whole story, for which 
there had been no time thus far. 


THE CLASH 


127 


Boys, I think I have good news for you ! 
he exclaimed, after Frank had briefly related 
Fred’s capture by Wagooshaw, and their fruit- 
less effort to overtake him. Boys, you may 
recover your brother to-morrow. The rumor 
is that the French will give up to-morrow. 
Pouchot will surrender the fort and give up 
the prisoners. They have a lot of American 
prisoners, men, women, and children. 

If we capture that miserable Wagooshaw, 
we’ll just string him up. No, I guess we can’t 
do that. But leave him to me, lads. I’ll just 
point him out to my Iroquois friends; they 
will soon have his scalp. Wagooshaw is one of 
those red panthers, who have been Idlling and 
robbing in the western settlements, and we’ll 
soon hang up their pelts.’’ 


CHAPTER XIV 


A HARD BLOW 

Atkins had been well informed. On the 
next day, the 25th of July, 1759, the French 
Commander, General Pouchot, being almost 
out of food and provisions, with a garrison 
worn out by daily bombardments, and with all 
hope of help from outside vanished, prepared 
to surrender to Sir William Johnson. The 
last day had come of French dominion on the 
Great Lakes. 

It was well known in camp that there were 
many American prisoners in the fort. 

“ I reckon,’’ Atkins told the boys, “ you will 
find prisoners there from all over, for during 
these years of war, the Indians have been raid- 
ing the frontier as far as Albany and almost 
to Philadelphia. It is a wonder to me that not 
all the settlers west of the mountains lost 
heart and moved away.” 

“ Where could we go? ” asked Frank. We 
could not leave our homes and our land, and 

return as beggars to our old homes in the East. 

128 


A HAED BLOW 


129 


We just had to stay and protect ourselves as 
well as we could.” 

The boys could hardly await the time when 
they could enter the fort and look for their lost 
brother. 

At last Atkins secured permission to take 
them in. They had no eyes for all the strange 
sights ; they were looking just for one person. 
There were prisoners of all ages ; men, women, 
and young children. 

There was a woman from somewhere in New 
England who had been a captive amongst the 
Indians four years. One man had been cap- 
tured near Halifax, Nova Scotia. A man sixty 
years old had been a captive at Fort Niagara 
fourteen years. There were children whose 
parents had been killed by the Indians. Some 
of these children were too young to know their 
own names or to be able to tell where they 
came from. There were boys and girls from 
Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania; but 
Fred was not amongst them, and none of the 
captive boys had seen him or knew anything 
of him. 

Frank and Jack sat down in despair. Per- 


130 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


haps they had been following the wrong trail. 
Very likely Wagooshaw had never gone to 
Fort Niagara, but had struck off into the wil- 
derness north of Lake Erie. In that case it 
might be years before any one could find out 
where he lived. Perhaijs Fred had died or had 
been killed, and nobody would ever Imow any- 
thing about him. It was a common thing in 
those hard days that Indian captives were 
swallowed up by the big forest. They were 
sold from one tribe to another, till they had 
travelled hundreds of miles from home. 
Sometimes boys and girls were adopted by 
some tribe and when, years afterwards, they 
were discovered by their parents or relatives, 
they had grown so fond of the Indians and 
their way of living that they would not return 
to their own people, for after a white person 
had been adopted into the tribe, he was gen- 
erally well treated. This was especially the 
case with young boys and girls, who were 
nearly always adopted by some Indian woman, 
who had lost one of her own children through 
sickness or accident. In such an event the red 
foster parents also often refused to part with 


A HAED BLOW 


131 


their adopted children, to whom they had be- 
come much attached. 

When the two Pennsylvania boys with 
Alois and Atkins had searched in vain for 
Fred through the whole fort, Alois was the 
only one who did not lose heart. 

I go talk to ^ habitants,’ ” he said. No 
use feel bad. We hunt some more.” 

The habitants ” were Frenchmen born in 
America. Many of them had Indian mothers, 
and nearly all of them spoke one or more In- 
dian languages, and they generally lived on 
terms of friendship with the Indians. 

Alois joined a group of these habitants, who 
were roasting over a camp-fire some beef, 
which an American had given them. 

Bon jour!” Alois greeted them. Bon 
jour!” replied the dusky campers, and soon 
invited Alois to share their unexpected feast. 

Alois had asked Frank and Jack to stay 
away. ^^The habitants,” he said, ^^will tell 
rro more if I am alone and talk French to 
tnem.” 

After the men had eaten and lit their pipes, 
Alois watched his opportunity for leading the 


132 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


talk to Indian and Indian captives, which was 
not a difficult thing to do, for the habitants 
themselves were now captives, and were won- 
dering where they would be sent. They were 
not at all downcast, for they did not like the 
soldiers and ofhcers from France, who looked 
down upon them. The only thing they were 
afraid of was falling into the hands of the 
Iroquois. 

The English and Americans,^^ the speaker 
said, are gentlemen, but the Indians are all 
red devils in war. They don’t know how to 
fight like gentlemen ; they want to take 
scalps.” 

Sir William Johnson would not let them,” 
suggested Alois. 

Monsieur Johnson?” replied the Cana- 
dian ; we are afraid he can’t help it, my boy. 
Look ! There are two hundred tepees outside 
the fort, with a thousand Indians in them. 
Ah, the red devils ! Did you see how they stole 
in the fort? Everything they took. Our furs, 
our blankets. Even the caps and coats of the 
officers. Everything they stole that was not 
locked up in the powder magazine.” 


A HAKD BLOW 


133 


^‘Why are there no French Indians in the 
fort? ” asked Alois. 

The Canadian laughed. “Don’t you know, 
boy, that no Indian will stay where there is 
fighting with cannon? ” 

“There was Ouagusha, the big Ottawa, a 
brave man, too, in the woods, and one not 
afraid of waves and rapids, when he paddles 
his bark canoe.” 

“ Jacob, you know Ouagusha? ” the speaker 
asked, turning to one of his friends. 

Jacob laughed, and said that he knew the 
big Ottawa warrior. 

“He came here,” the Canadian continued, 
“ about two weeks ago. He brought a white 
boy with him. He was talking to some of- 
ficers. It was near the stone tower. Boom! 
goes a cannon. The big ball hits the block- 
house, and some stone and mortar flies 
around. Ouagusha grabs the boy by the hand 
and runs for the bake-house. Ah, my friends, 
he runs like a scared rabbit. Victoir, the 
baker, is Ouagusha’s friend. Ouagusha hides 
the boy in a flour-barrel all day, for he is 
afraid the English will see him through their 


134 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


spy-glasses and shoot at his captor with a 
cannon. Then he goes and hides behind the 
big house on the lake shore. 

When it is dark he goes to the bake-house 
and eats up two big loaves. ^ Bon jour! my 
brother/ he says, ^ I leave this place. English 
camp is bad medicine. All country bad medi- 
cine. I paddle to Montreal. I go hunt beaver. 
White men make heap plenty bad medicine.^ 
Alois had not spoken a word, for fear that 
the Canadian might not finish the story. 

Did he go to Montreal? ” he asked now. 
It is a long way to paddle.” 

He disappeared from the fort that night,” 
continued the speaker, and he took the boy 
with him. He will not come back to Fort 
Magara for a long time.” 

Jack gave a shout of joy when the brothers 
heard that Fred and the Indian had really 
been at Fort Magara only about two weeks 
ago, but his face fell when he learned that the 
distance from Fort Magara to Montreal was 
three hundred miles and that a canoe would 
have to pass over miles of bad rapids in the St. 
Lawrence River. 


A HARD BLOW 


135 


Alois was ready to start for Montreal as 
soon as they could secure a good boat or canoe, 
but Atldns reminded the lads that the war was 
not over, and that the French still held Mon- 
treal. 

Would Wagooshaw paddle clear to Mon- 
treal all alone? ” asked Jack. 

^^Ah,^’ cried Alois, ^^he paddle all way to 
France to get away from cannon. He fight 
hard with gun and bow and tomahawk, but he 
run like rabbit from cannorj.” 

The Ottawas and other Indians allied with 
the French had indeed been wise in not re- 
maining in the fort, for it was with difiBLculty 
that the Iroquois were restrained from killing 
even the French prisoners. Sir William John- 
son had allowed the French soldiers to keep 
their guns and bayonets, for fear of an Indian 
massacre, and General Pouchot had instructed 
his men to punch the Indians in the stom- 
ach ” if they become troublesome, but to avoid 
bloodshed, if possible. 

Johnson^s Indians had done valuable work 
as scouts on the march and in repelling the 
French rescue expedition near the present site 


136 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


of Youngstown. But during tlie siege most of 
the 800 Iroquois were a great nuisance, and 
ate up an enormous amount of beef and other 
provisions ; and after the surrender, they 
caused much worry and anxiety to Sir Will- 
iam. 

The morning after the surrender, the 
French prisoners were sent in boats to Os- 
wego, down Lake Ontario; and the released 
American captives were also sent east. 

The three boys, Alois was now one of them, 
remained at Fort Niagara; because for the 
present they neither knew what to do nor 
where to go. 

On the evening of the surrender the Ameri- 
can and French officers were invited to dinner 
in the big stone house by General Pouchot. It 
cannot have been a joyful meal for the French, 
because it was the last dinner French officers 
ever ate in the old stone fort, which had been 
the key to the French dominion on the Great 
Lakes, on the Ohio, and the upper Mississippi, 
but Pouchot and the brave defenders of Fort 
Niagara certainly showed themselves good 
losers. 


CHAPTER XV 


THE WHjY OTTAWA 

Foe a week the lads were much in doubt as 
to what to do. Should they ask to be released 
so they could go to Montreal as soon as pos- 
sible, or should they go to ^Oswego and join 
the English expedition against Montreal? 
But this expedition would probably not start 
until next summer. Whatever they did, it 
looked as if they had lost the trail of Wagoo- 
shaw in the great Canadian wilderness. 
Where would Wagooshaw go from Montreal? 
Probably up the Ottawa River to Georgian 
Bay. But everything was uncertain. He 
might go on to Quebec. But Quebec was be- 
sieged by the English under Wolfe and de- 
fended by the brave and able Montcalm, the 
bravest and ablest French general in Canada. 
What was happening at Quebec, nobody knew 
at Fort Magara. 


137 


138 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Frank was almost ready to return to Penn- 
sylvania and await tke end of tlie war ; but the 
French boy never lost heart. That he was 
really a prisoner did not worry him at all. He 
was with his chosen boy friends, he was well 
treated in camp, and it made no difference to 
him who ruled at Fort Niagara or on the Ohio. 
Every day he mingled freely with the soldiers, 
the Indians, and the French in and about the 
fort. 

One evening he came to mess in a specially 
happy frame of mind. 

I meet two habitants across the river,” he 
told his friends, ^^who come from Toronto. 
They camp one night at the place, where the 
French burnt their fort at that place. They 
met big Indian at that place who had a little 
white boy. They give Indian plenty food and 
little tobacco, and then the Indian begin to 
talk. He tell them where he catch white boy. 
He is mad at French othcers, because they will 
not buy white boy. He say he no go to Mon- 
treal, because Englishmen will lick French- 
men with big guns. He say Frenchmen and 
Englishmen just make hell of whole country. 


THE WILY OTTAWA 


139 


Buy no scalps, buy no prisoners, give no pres- 
ents to Indians. He say be go borne over trail 
to Lake Aux Claies, and Lake Huron. He 
been away from squaw and papoose a long 
time. He say be go borne to Ottawa country 
near Sault Ste. Marie. He say, maybe be 
give white boy to squaw, maybe be kill bmi. 

Habitants, they like white boy. They tell 
Indian, be kill white boy, red-coat soldiers find 
him and bang him. 

Indian get mad. He say Englishmen can’t 
find him in big woods at Sault. He say no 
Englishmen ever come to Big Sault. Only 
French traders and one French Blackcoat. 
He say be do not know what Blackcoat wants 
in Indian country. He buy no fur and want 
no land. He tell Indians not to take scalps, 
not to burn captives, and not to get drunk and 
fight ; but to go catch beaver and bunt deer and 
raise corn, or the Great Spirit of the white 
men will send them all to a bad place.” 

There could be no doubt that the two 
Frenchmen had camped with Wagooshaw and 
had seen the captive brother of Frank and 
Jack. Of the captive they had noticed that he 


140 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


looked hungry, but he was not wounded nor 
sick and he had a blanket to sleep in. 

It was plain that Wagooshaw had changed 
his plans. Instead of going to Montreal for 
the purpose of selling his captive for a re- 
ward, he was going to cross the neck of land 
between Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay of 
Lake Huron. 

The distance on this route to the Sault was 
only some four hundred miles. By taking the 
route from Toronto to Lake Aux Claies, now 
called Lake Simcoe, and Georgian Bay he 
would avoid meeting any of the dreaded Iro- 
quois, and he would have to pass no American 
or French forts, where he might run into 
trouble and danger as had happened to him 
at Fort Magara. 

If he met any human beings at all, they 
would be Ottawas of his own nation or 
friendly Chippewas or Crees, to whom he 
could brag of his exploits in the settlements 
and show his live captive or the captive’s 
scalp. 

The route to Lake Superior by way of To- 
ronto Bay and Lake Simcoe was well Imown to 


THE WILY OTTAWA 141 

the Indians and the old fur-traders. But it 
was not much used, because it involved travel- 
ling by land and carrying furs and goods over 
a distance of about thirty miles between To- 
ronto Bay and Lake Simcoe. 

In the summer of 1764, five years after the 
events of our story, the famous American fur- 
trader Alexander Henry came over this route 
with his Chippewa and Ottawa delegates to 
the great council of all the Western Indians, 
which Sir William J ohnson had called at Fort 
Magara. Henry and his Indians took this 
route, so as not to pass Detroit and to avoid 
falling in with the hostile tribes who were be- 
sieging Detroit under Pontiac, who was him- 
self an Ottawa. 

It is possible that Wagooshaw had another 
reason for taking the Toronto route. On this 
route he could safely travel in broad daylight 
without fear of meeting many inquisitive or 
dangerous travellers, either whites or Indians, 
and on this route he felt entirely safe from 
pursuit. 

The lads talked over the news of Wagoo- 
shaw with their friend Atkins. A new spirit 


142 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Fad come into them. They secured an elm- 
bark canoe in which to paddle on Lake Erie to 
Toronto, a distance of some sixty miles along 
the shore. 

This is real travelling,” remarked Jack, as 
they glided along smoothly under the lee of 
the shore. Out in the open lake, the white- 
capped waves Avere dancing merrily, for a 
breeze was blowing from the northwest, and 
it takes but very little Avind to stir up the 
sleeping waves on Lake Ontario. 

Frank, this is lots more fun than the way 
you made us sneak along,” Jack continued 
after a while. 

^^Yes, it is much more fun,” Frank ad- 
mitted. “But if we had travelled this way, 
some Ottawa or Chippewa warrior would now 
wear our scalps on his belt, or we would be 
captives at Detroit or somewhere out west.” 

“ No, Frank go right,” Alois came in. 
“ You travel in daytime to Fort Niagara, In- 
dian sure catch you.” 

Jack and the French boy wanted to make 
the sixty miles to Toronto in one day, but 
Frank prevailed upon them to camp in a beau- 


THE WILY OTTAWA 


143 


tiful spot near the present town of Hamilton, 
Ontario, where the Welland Canal now enters 
Lake Ontario from Lake Erie. 

They made camp early in the afternoon and 
had a fine supper of the good things they had 
brought along from Fort Niagara. Fresh 
beef, broiled over the coals or fried in the 
pan with strips of bacon, eaten with an un- 
limited allowance of bread from the French 
brick oven, with wild black raspberries for 
dessert, made good enough a meal for any 
hungry boys. 

It was now the month of August, the most 
pleasant month to travel and camp in the 
woods. The mosquitoes and black files were 
gone, and when the stars came out, the lads 
spread their blankets at the foot of an old elm 
and soon were fast asleep. 

On the second night they camped on the 
shore of Toronto Bay. There T:as no sign of 
Indians or white men on the bay, and the lads 
used no precaution to conceal their camp. 

Jack could not forego expressing his opin- 
ion that Alois was a much better quartermas- 
ter than Frank. 


144: THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


hiin I liad to live on turtles and 
bugs/^ he told Alois, and he made me sleep 
in a bears’ den.” 

“ You wait,” retorted Frank, till we strike 
dangerous country again and see what Alois 
will do. We are eating the last of the beef 
and bread to-night, and to-morrow we shall 
begin to live again like Indians.” 

“ Oh no, not yet,” objected Jack. We still 
have almost two sides of bacon and three bags 
of corn. But I don’t see why we did not take 
two or three more bags of corn and some more 
bacon.” 

You will see it to-morrow,” Frank replied, 

when we make up the packs to carry to Lake 
Simcoe.” 

Pack-sacks, which woodsmen and canoeists 
use so much nowadays, were not known at the 
time of the French and Indian War. In those 
days both Indians and white men carried their 
packs by means of straps which fitted over the 
shoulders and the forehead, and the packs 
were tied up in any suitable manner, or were 
put into a wooden carrying-frame. 

Jack was surprised at the weight each boy 


THE WILY OTTAWA 


145 


would have to carry. There were three guns 
and ammunition for them, two small copper 
kettles, three light axes, a piece of canvas for 
a shelter, extra shoes, about twenty pounds of 
Indian goods, and some forty pounds of food. 
A number of articles they abandoned together 
with their bark canoe, but even then each lad 
had to carry about fifty pounds, which is^-a big 
load even for a man, unless he is hardened to 
carrying a pack. 

^‘We will go slow,” said Frank, ^^on the 
first day ; and when we get tired we shall stop 
and make an early camp.” 

Jack discovered very soon that by going 
slow,” Frank did not mean to loiter and just 
saunter along. Very soon each lad had struck 
his gait. Alois, who had carried packs since 
he was a small boy, took the lead, Frank fol- 
lowed at some distance, and Jack had to 
scramble his best not to be left too far behind. 
One cannot walk along leisurely with a heavy 
pack, and while each man will strike the gait 
easiest for him, a speed of between two and 
three miles an hour is easier than a slower 
gait. 


146 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


^‘Look here, boys,’^ Frank cautioned when 
all three of them were taking a short rest at 
the end of the first mile, ^^we shall all get 
killed, if we travel in this careless manner. 
We have to stay close together and make as 
little noise as possible.” 

The trail they followed was not bad as wild 
trails go, but the packs seemed to be getting 
heavier every mile, and, although the trail was 
easily followed, carrying a heavy pack over it 
was hard work. Many large trees had fallen 
across the trail, but no Indian would think of 
cutting them and dragging them aside. In 
other places large roots caused the boys to 
stmnble, and in a low wet place, the trail led 
through deep mud and over many slippery 
roots. 

In the middle of the afternoon they came to 
a small stream, and Frank suggested that it 
might be a good place to camp. “ Unless you 
would rather march a few miles farther? ” he 
asked, turning to Jack. 

“Not I,” Jack replied promptly, putting 
down his pack. “I couldn’t go another 
mile ! ” 


THE WILY OTTAWA 


147 


Oh, shame on you, J ack ! ” cried Frank. 

Don’t act like a baby. If you kept on, you 
would soon get your second wind, and you 
could go again as far as we have come.” 

Perhaps I could, Frank,” the younger 
brother agreed. “You and Alois know how to 
carry a pack, but I had a hard time to-'keep 
my first wind. I don’t care a bit to catch the 
second. I think the Indians are wise not to 
use this route to Lake Superior. I bet poor 
little Fred had a hard time to keep up with 
that long-legged Wagooshaw. How much 
farther do we have to haul all this stuff? ” 

“About thirty miles more,” replied Frank 
carelessly. “We have made only about ten 
miles. You squatted down on every log we 
passed.” 

“ Thirty miles ! ” exclaimed Jack. “ I’ll be 
dead before we get there.” 

“ Jack, if you don’t stop whimpering,” 
Frank threatened, “Alois and I will tie you 
down to a log and liven you up with a hickory 
switch.” 

“ You try it,” Jack challenged them, “ and 
you will see me liven up before you get me 


148 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


tied down. I feel as light as a feather now. 
You couldn’t catch me.” 

^^All right then,” said Frank. ‘^Take up 
your pack and come along, for we must not 
camp so close to the trail.” 

When the lads had selected a camp for the 
night, Frank took a forked stick and carefully 
righted all the weeds and brush they had 
trodden dowm on their short march from the 
trail through the woods. 

What do you do that for? ” asked Jack. 

To hide our camp,” explained Alois. So 
Indians cannot follow us, when they walk 
along the trail.” 

But there are no Indians here,” objected 
Jack. 

‘^We see none,” admitted Alois, ^‘but you 
can’t tell when they come. Indians travel 
everywhere all the time. Indian see a trail, 
he follow it every time, just like a blood 
hound. 

Now we make a little fire and cook sup- 
per, but keep pretty quiet. No shout, no yell. 
Indian all have ears all over.” 

When it was getting dark, the lads carried 


THE WILY OTTAWA 


149 


their packs about ten rods farther into the 
woods, before they lay down to sleep. 

Bad medicine,” said Alois, to sleep near 
fire place, when bad Indian is around. He 
smell fire. He crawl up. ^ Hi, Hi, Hi,’ he yell 
and jump up and has caught you. He take 
you long. Make you run gauntlet, maybe tie 
you to stake and burn you. All dance round, 
and yell like devils.” 

Is Wagooshaw going to make Fred run the 
gauntlet and burn him at the stake? ” asked 
Jack with his eyes hashing. We’ll kill Wa- 
gooshaw if he does.” 

^‘]Nro, not little boy like Fred,” protested 
Alois, but big boys like Frank and me and 
you, he make run maybe, or tie us to stake.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


A STRANGE FIND 

The niglit passed without any alarm. 
Wolves howled around the dead camp-fire, and 
a snorting buck awoke the boys before day- 
light. But Alois said these were good signs, 
for the wild animals would have left, if there 
were any Indians prowling around. 

Soon after daylight the boys continued their 
journey toward Lake Simcoe, and Jack found 
carrying a pack a little easier and he did not 
sit down on every log. The travellers made 
about fifteen miles, before they camped near 
a fair-sized creek, which Alois declared emp- 
tied into Lake Simcoe, but the water in the 
creek was so low that, in many places, it would 
not carry a canoe. 

The boys now had the experience, which has 
defeated many large and small Indian war- 
parties. They had to stop and hunt or go 
hungry. 


160 


A STRA^^GE FIND 


151 


“ Boys, this won’t do,” Frank said, when 
they had made camp on a small brook away 
from the main creek. Our bacon is almost 
gone, and in a week our corn will be gone. 
We have to hunt for meat to-morrow, so we 
can save our corn for a time when we can find 
no game or have no time to hunt. There seems 
to be some game here and no Indians, so let 
us lay up a few days to stock up with food.” 

Alois proposed that each man should hunt 
by himself and that all be back in camp about 
five in the afternoon. 

But Frank did not like this plan. “ It is 
dangerous,” he objected, and I should be un- 
easy about you and J ack all day. No, we must 
stay close together, even if we bring in less 
game.” 

There are no Indians here and no white 
man,” claimed Alois. 

‘^How do you Imow, Alois?” Frank pro- 
tested. ^^Wagooshaw came this way and 
other Indians may travel over this route. No- 
body can tell where and when he will meet 
Indian hunters or war-parties. No, we will 
just spread out a little and hunt west of our 


152 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


camp, away from the trail and the creek. Use 
your arrows on grouse and small game, but 
use your gun^ if you have a chance at a deer 
or elk. We have to take some risk, and I know 
we shall never get a deer with an arrow. But 
don’t fire at a deer unless you are sure of your 
game.” 

For about an hour the young hunters ad- 
vanced straight west without bagging any- 
thing bigger than a few grouse. Then Jack 
gave a low whistle, which had been agreed 
upon as a signal that the other two hunters 
should come his way. 

What do you see? ” asked Alois, when he 
met Jack. 

^^Look at that grove of oaks,” whispered 
Jack. 

^^Ah!” cried Alois. ^‘Pigeons! Many 
pigeons! But they are gone. We came too 
late.” 

When the boys had walked over a few hun- 
dred yards, a sight met their eyes such as no 
American boy will ever see again. They had 
found a nesting and roosting place of the 
large passenger pigeon. 


A STEANGE FIND 


153 


There were tens of thousands of nests. 
Every small twig had been picked up by the 
birds for nesting material. Many branches 
had been broken by the countless hosts of the 
birds that had nested and roosted here. Al- 
though the nesting season was now past, 
enough belated birds were left, so the boys 
caught a hundred fat squabs in half an hour. 
The roost stretched away for a mile, and 
Frank said that a million birds must have oc- 
cupied it. After the hunters had dressed the 
squabs, they hung them up so the bears could 
not reach them, and then they went in search 
of deer. 

Don^t shoot at does or fawns,” Frank told 
his companions. I don’t like to kill the does 
and little spotted fawns. Let us try to get a 
fat young buck.” 

The boys had looked over the pigeon roost 
for signs of Indians, and as they had found no 
sign of the red hunters, even Frank felt satis- 
fied that there were no Indians in the neigh- 
borhood. 

The Indians used to be as fond of pigeons 
as the white settlers, and when the hunters 


164 : THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


located a nesting-place, the whole village 
moved to the roost and feasted on pigeons. 
The squaws smoked and cured thousands of 
them, and the young warriors took smoked 
squabs on their long raids. 

About noon, a shot was heard. Frank had 
brought down a deer. 

All three of the lads stopped hunting and 
carried their game to camp. Here they put up 
several frames of green sticks about three feet 
high. On these sticks they spread out their 
pigeons and venison after they had cut it up in 
thin slices. Then they built fires under the 
frames, and in this way all their meat was 
smoked and cooked over a slow fire. Meat pre- 
pared in this way is very nourishing, is light 
in weight, and will keep a long time. 

White hunters often put the meat in salt for 
about twenty-four hours before they smoked 
it, but the Indians always cured their game 
without using any salt. 

Care must be taken not to use too much salt, 
and fish may be prepared in the same way as 
game. 

About midnight all the meat was cured, and 


A STKANGE FIND 


165 


tliotoed lads were glad to seek their blankets. 
So tired and sleepy were they, that it was easy 
for them to follow the teachings of the Good 
Book, not to worry about the troubles of the 
next day. 


CHAPTER XVn 


THE BEAVER DAM 

Next morning the lads began to live like 
Indian hunters and warriors. Their breakfast 
consisted of fresh broiled squabs and venison, 
and water from the brook. The corn was to be 
used only in case of emergency, when they had 
no time to hunt or when no game could be 
found. They had each a little tea, coffee, and 
sugar in their packs, but these luxuries were 
reserved for special occasions or to help them 
gain the good will of some Indians, whose as- 
sistance they might need to accomplish the 
object of their journey. 

The provisions which they had secured 
would last them about two weeks, but a new 
problem now arose. The stock of dried meat 
added about one hundred and fifty pounds to 
their loads, compelling each boy to carry 

about one hundred pounds. This meant that 
166 


THE BEAYEE DAM 


157 


they would have to carry their goods in relays 
to Lake Simcoe, leaving the first load at the 
lake, while all three of them returned to their 
present camp for a second load. But such a 
plan would delay them at least a day, and it 
would greatly increase the danger of their be- 
ing robbed and attacked by hostile Indians. 

After they had talked it all over, and ex- 
amined with much care the stage of the water 
in Holland Creek, they decided to adopt an- 
other plan. 

They would build a canoe near the creek and 
carry all their baggage down the creek to Lake 
Simcoe by canoe. If necessary, two of their 
number could walk along the bank, and they 
could all portage the boat and goods past shal- 
low stretches of the stream. At their present 
camp, good canoe trees were common, but at 
the mouth of the creek, Alois told his friends, 
most of the good canoe trees had been cut 
down by the Indians. 

They soon discovered a large straight red 
elm, and began at once to cut it down. The 
Indians and frontiersmen of Western New 
York and Southern Ontario were compelled to 


168 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


use elm bark for their canoes, because no large 
birch-trees were found in those regions. 

It was hard and tedious work for the boys 
to fell the big tree with their light axes ; and 
taking off the bark, without cutting it, was 
almost as difficult, because the bark would no 
longer peel as freely as in June and July. 

It was dark when the log was peeled, and it 
took another day to close the ends of the canoe, 
to put in the cross-pieces, ribs, and gunwales 
necessary to strengthen the craft and to pre- 
vent it from warping. 

When, at last, the craft was finished, they 
had a canoe about twenty feet long. It was 
much stronger than a similar birch-bark 
canoe, but it was also much heavier and 
slower, for the bark of the elm is very rough, 
and does not glide smoothly through the 
water. 

1^0 sooner had they launched their new ship 
on Holland Creek than a new difficulty ap- 
peared. The canoe was so much heavier than 
they had expected that it would not carry 
more than half their goods on the shallow 
water of the creek. 


THE BEAYER DAM 


159 


Frank and Jack looked at tke heavy canoe 
and the shallow creek in despair, but Alois 
said he had an idea that might help them 
out. 

See here,’’ he said, ‘Hhis little stream that 
comes into the creek no looks right. It looks 
like a deep ditch that had plenty of water, 
maybe last month. It is all dry now. All 
other little streams still run. I ask, where is 
the water of this little stream? I say, we go 
up little stream and find out. Maybe we find 
plenty of water, and bring it down to Holland 
Creek.” 

It was not at all clear to Frank and Jack 
what Alois had in mind, but they followed him 
up the dry stream. 

As they proceeded, Alois grew even more 
cheerful. “ I think we find plenty water,” he 
said. “I once find plenty water long time 
ago, and float canoe down like duck.” 

Say, Frank,” whispered J ack, what’s the 
crazy Frenchman trying to find, anyhow? If 
there was plenty of water in this stream, 
wouldn’t it be coming down of itself? ” 

Never mind. Jack,” replied Frank ; come 


160 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


along. Perhaps he Iniows a few woodsmen’s 
tricks that you and I have not learned.” 

Pretty soon Alois began to call aloud : 
^^Aho, my friends! Come here, come here 
quick ! ” he cried. I find him ! I find him ! 
I told you maybe we find him ! ” 

“ What in the world has he found? ” asked 
Jack, as he and Frank hurriedly scrambled 
through the brush. 

“ Look there, look there ! ” Alois cried 
standing on a dam of brush and mud. The 
beaver pond, the big beaver pond ! 

^^Lots of water, lots of water!” he con- 
tinued, as his friends came up. 

Big pond ! ” Alois repeated. Maybe 
half-mile long. Lots of water all dammed up. 
Plenty water to float canoe ! ” 

There was a strange sight indeed, a large 
deep pond right in the forest. Many of the 
trees standing in the quiet water were already 
dead and others were dying. A small floating 
island lay a few rods away in a patch of open 
water, and a flock of ducks disappeared be- 
hind a jumble of dead-and-down logs, as the 
boys started to walk up along the edge of the 


THE BEAYEK DAM 


161 


pond, which filled the little valley for half a 
mile back from the dam. 

Near the bank, about a hundred yards above 
the pond, they discovered a structure, which 
looked like a very big muskrat house, but it 
was built of peeled sticks and poles. The 
beaver house,’^ Alois explained. The old 
beavers live there with the little beavers. In 
daytime they are all asleep. In evening they 
come out and eat roots and poplar bark. 
When beavers get scared, they hide in the 
house or in holes in the bank.’^ 

It was all wonderful and half unreal to 
Prank and Jack, who had heard old trappers 
tell of beaver dams and beavers, but had never 
seen any of their works. 

Alois, do you mean to tell us,’’ asked Jack, 
when the boys had returned to the dam, that 
the little animals built this big dam? ” 

Sure, the beavers built it,” Alois replied 
with a grin. They aren’t very little. A big 
old beaver, he weigh fifty pounds, maybe 
sixty. And he can cut down big trees, as big 
as our canoe elm.” 

It looks as if big and little boys built the 


162 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


dam/’ persisted J ack. Look at all tlie brush 
and poles and mud they used ! ” 

No boys ! No boys ! ” Alois protested. 

The beaver people, they did it all. They 
drag brush and float poles, and scoop mud 
with their little hands.” 

It did seem hard to believe. ^^Animals can’t 
build a dam like this,” Jack objected. ‘‘1 
think the Indians built it.” 

^^No, Jack. The beaver people do it all,” 
Alois repeated. They drag brush and cut 
trees with their teeth, and they use their fore- 
feet like little hands when they dig the 
mud.” 

In the middle of the narrow valley the dam 
was seven or eight feet high. Then it ran out 
gradually to both slopes. Wherever the water 
had begun to escape in a depression, the ani- 
mals had continued the dam, adding mud, 
sticks and brush, as was required. Where 
the dam ended, on the slopes of the valley, 
it ran out into little ridges of mud, that 
looked more like the work of Indian children 
at play than like the work of animals. 

“ I don’t see,” said Jack after a while, how 


THE BEAYEE DAM 


163 


this beaver pond is going to help us to go down 
Holland Creek/’ 

Alois looked as if surprised at Jack’s stu- 
pidity. Listen,” he began, I tell you. I 
go sit down with paddle in canoe. You and 
Frank take axe and pole and break the dam. 
You work hard and quick and make a big 
break in the dam. The water all come out. 
It rush into creek and float canoe. I paddle 
quick and keep canoe on high water. You and 
Frank run down along creek. By and by I 
strike deep water. I wait for you and we all 
paddle down to Lake Aux Claies.” 

Jack looked questioningly at Frank and 
Alois. 

It ought to work,” Frank agreed. But I 
think I will take the canoe myself. You and 
Alois may break the dam, and run along the 
bank.” 

But where will the beavers go if we break 
their dam?” asked Jack. 

The beaver,” replied Alois laughing. He 
don’t care in summer. Old beaver, he hear 
water run. He come swimming along pretty 
soon to see what make the noise. He see dam 


164 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


broken, he swear with his tail two three times. 
Then he swim away and tell his children to 
hide in holes, because the dam is busted and 
the bears and wolves can get into the house 
pretty soon. 

^^Then at night, he and other old beavers 
they come and fix up the dam. And by and by 
the water rise again and close the doors of the 
beaver house, and all the little beavers come 
back home.” 

All right, boys ! ” Frank agreed. To- 
morrow morning we break the beaver dam, 
and see if we can’t get off to Lake Aux Claies. 
If we make that plan work, we shall soon be 
on Lake Huron and once more on the trail of 
Wagooshaw.” 

Alois, how can the old beaver swear with 
his tail? ” asked Jack. 

He bang the water with his tail, when he 
dive,” Alois explained. You hear him long 
way off, maybe a mile. He make big noise like 
Englishman swearing.” 


CHAPTER XVin 


THE QUARREL 

Alois was quite willing to help Jack break 
the dam. If he felt that Frank did not quite 
trust him and thought that he might run away 
with the canoe and the goods, he concealed his 
feelings at the insult. 

It was just after sunrise when Frank was 
ready in the canoe, paddle in hand and with 
his gun ready for instant use ; for he felt that 
he would be a good mark for any enemy con- 
cealed in the woods. 

Jack and Alois did not find the breaking of 
the beaver dam an easy job. The mud on top 
of the dam was scraped off easily enough. 
But then they struck big poles, buried in more 
mud and brush; and it was difficult to work 
in the water, which at once began to rush 
through the gap. Now one and then the other 
slipped and tumbled into the rushing current, 
165 


166 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


till both were as wet as if they had been swim- 
ming in a mill-race with their clothes on. 
They pulled at the brush with their hands, 
they used poles to lift up a mass of big sticks, 
they tried to cut some big poles with their 
hatchets; but it took fully fifteen minutes be- 
fore the breach was so deep that they could no 
longer work in the water, which now rushed 
out of the pond, and with a great noise rolled 
and tumbled down the stream. 

They picked up their guns, and ran toward 
the creek, but the flood from the beaver pond 
had reached it ahead of them. The creels, very 
shallow a few minutes ago, now ran high, as 
if it had been suddenly swelled by a cloud- 
burst, and Frank and the bark canoe were 
gone. 

Jack and Alois took a short cut to the next 
bend of the creek, but Frank and the canoe 
were not in sight. 

Jack became frightened and said he feared 
that Frank was drowned. 

“Ah, Jack, you are poor little Indian,” 
Alois exclaimed with a laugh. “He no 
drown ! He paddle fast to keep going on high 



Jack and Alois did not find the breaking of the beaver dam 

AN EASY JOB. — Page 165. 






' THE QIJAEKEL 


167 


water. Pretty soon water get low again, and 
lie get stuck on mud and rocks. No use run- 
ning. We find him by and by.” 

The argument of Alois seemed very reason- 
able to Jack, but his faith was nevertheless 
severely tested during the hour following. He 
did no longer try to run along the creek; on 
the contrary, he was quite willing to walk, for 
it was hard enough to travel through the 
brush at a walk and carry a heavy gun. 

Every time the two lads approached a bend 
in the creek. Jack expected to see his brother 
with the canoe. But he was disappointed a 
second and a third, even a fifth and sixth time ; 
and then he lost count of the bends and curves. 

It did not seem possible that Frank could be 
so far ahead, for Alois and Jack had been 
pushing their way through brush and over 
fallen trees for an hour, at least it seemed that 
long to Jack. 

Take rest,” said Alois, seating himself on 
a log. We find him by and by.” 

^^We won’t find him!” Jack cried in de- 
spair. ‘^He is drowned, or the Indians got 
him.” 


168 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


He no drowned ! ” protested Alois. 
“ Where is canoe? He float. No Indians here. 
You get scared and tired. Come! We march 
on. We find him by and by.” 

And again they picked their way from bend 
to bend; but no boy or canoe came in sight. 
However, the creek was getting deeper and a 
little wider, and Alois, all cheerfulness and 
confidence, tried to assure Jack with his 
quaint: ^^We find him by and by. He all 
right.” 

In this way Jack and Alois had travelled 
some three miles, although it seemed to Jack 
that they had come twice that distance. 

Another small creek now joined Holland 
Creek, and at the mouth of this stream, a large 
elm spread over a stretch of smooth deep 
water. As they approached this smooth water, 
they heard a low whistle. 

Listen ! Indians ! ” whispered J ack. 

Ah, no Indians,” replied Alois. They 
no whistle ! ” 

And then Frank gave a lusty shout and 
called, Hello, you bush runners! Get 
aboard for a ride. 


THE QUAKEEL 


169 


You fellows are slow/’ Frank continued. 

I have been bere half an hour, and began to 
fear that you bad missed me. I tell you, boys, 
that was a wild trip. I bad to wind and twist, 
and paddle like a madman. Three times I got 
stuck on a log, but by jumping into tbe water 
and pushing and lifting I got her afloat again. 
Alois, if you hadn’t broken tbe beaver dam, I 
never could have made it.” 

By noon tbe lads rode out upon tbe blue 
surface of Lake Simcoe and landed in a shady 
spot for a good lunch. In tbe morning they 
bad been too excited to eat much breakfast, 
and now they all felt very hungry. Before 
tbe meal they took a swim in tbe lake, and 
while they were eating and resting, they 
bad their wet clothes spread out to dry in tbe 
sun. 

Frank was strongly in favor of biding dur- 
ing tbe day, and then creeping along tbe west 
shore during tbe night. 

am afraid of straggling war-parties of 
Cbippewas and Ottawas,” be told bis friends. 

If they see us crossing tbe lake to-day, they 
can ambush us anywhere along tbe crooked 


170 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


cliannel and pools of the Severn Elver to-mor- 
row/’ 

But Jack and Alois were strongly opposed 
to night travel. 

Why can’t we travel so as to enjoy it? ” 
asked Jack. We have not seen an Indian or 
Indian sign since we left Niagara. The war 
never extended into this country; and if we 
do meet Indians they may be quite friendly,” 
he pleaded. So please, Frank, let us travel 
in daytime ! ” 

You will be a good lawyer some day,” 
Frank granted. I would feel easier about 
the disposition of the Indians we may meet if 
all three of us were French like Alois.” 

They can call me French or Dutch, or any- 
thing they like best,” Jack argued. 

They will call you what you look like,” 
retorted Frank. They will call you Eng- 
lishman, Scotchman, or Dutchman, but no In- 
dian will take you for a Frenchman.” 

Then Alois began to add his plea to that of 
Jack. 

My friends,” he said, let us travel in the 
sunshine, when we can hear the birds call and 


THE QIJAEKEL 


171 


see tlie loon dive in the lake. Much, travel by 
night makes men weak and sick, and we shall 
have a long way to go. No Indians are in 
these parts, and all the wood signs tell us this 
land is at peace.^^ 

^^We will do as you wish,’’ Frank yielded. 

But I am ill at ease, for I know that the red 
warriors often lie in wait, where no wood signs 
tell of their presence.” 

So the lads travelled rapidly along the 
wooded shore of Lake Simcoe, and the land 
seemed to be indeed at peace. All after- 
noon they saw no signs of Indians and no 
smoke of their camp-fires. The pearl-gray sea- 
gulls floated lazily over the canoe, big dragon- 
flies darted about as if playfully passing and 
returning. A mother duck hurriedly con- 
cealed her half-grown flock in the bushes on 
shore, and from a tall dead pine an eagle 
bolted into the clear water and brought out a 
big wriggling fish for his supper. That was 
the nearest thing they saw to remind them of 
the world of war and bloody strife, which they 
had left behind on the Niagara only a week 
ago. 


172 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Toward evening they landed on a pleasant 
spot, near the foot of the lake, where quite a 
mass of driftwood had piled up among the 
rocks. 

Jack and Alois proposed that they cook 
their supper on the beach and then leave all 
their goods and food in the canoe over night. 
Alois said that he would tie the canoe in such 
a way that it would swing out into the water 
so bears and wolves could not get to it. Then 
after supper they would build a big fire of 
driftwood and he would put up their canvas in 
such a way that they could sleep near a warm 
fire all night. 

At first Frank was disposed to laugh at this 
plan good-naturedly. Do you fellows think,” 
he asked, that we should leave our canoe so 
that a thieving Ottawa simply needs to cut the 
rope to run off with everything we have? A 
nice mess that would leave us in. We would 
be like starving dogs left stranded in the wil- 
derness. No, boys, we must carry our stuff 
ashore and hide our canoe.” 

But Alois and I do want to build a bon- 
fire,” Jack insisted. 


THE QUAREEL 


173 


^^You will not build a bonfire,” Frank 
bluntly refused. you think I want to 

keep a signal fire burning near my camp all 
night for all the Indians of Canada? ” 

Ah, this isn’t your camp, and you aren’t 
the boss of it,” retorted Jack angrily. 

Frank’s face flushed, and he turned his 
sleeves up a little higher. 

I am going to be the boss of this camp,” he 
spoke firmly, ^^and if you two fellows don’t 
believe it, I am ready to show you right now. 
We shall all get killed if we don’t have a boss. 
You two fellows are just a couple of fool 
boys.” 

Jack had turned pale and also started to 
roll up his sleeves. Alois ! ” he muttered 
angrily, are we going to take that? ” 

But Alois saw things in a different light. 
With a laugh on his dark brown face, he 
pushed Jack away. You are like two, — ^like 
two cock-a-doodles,” he expressed himself. 

But I say, you no fight here. Good camp 
have boss. No boss, no good. Men fight and 
make much swear talk. No good, no fun. I 
say Frank boss this camp. Come on. Jack! 


174 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


We hide stuff in woods. Just little while, we 
got him all done.” 

Whenever Alois was excited or much in 
earnest, English words refused to come to 
him, and he struck out on short-cuts through 
all the snarls of English syntax and grammar, 
but so effective was his plea in this case that 
Frank and Jack hardly knew whether they 
laughed at themselves or at the quaint lan- 
guage of Aloises peace talk. 

In a very short time all the goods were car- 
ried to a safe spot on shore and the canoe was 
hidden in a place where no Indian was likely 
to find it. 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE WAB-PARTY 

Although the boys bad thus far seen no 
Indians, Frank could not make bimself be- 
lieve that the Indians had all deserted a re- 
gion which was naturally a very good Indian 
country. 

He knew that Indians easily took fright on 
rumors of an approaching enemy, and he 
thought that perhaps they had left the coun- 
try when they heard of the capture of Fort 
Xiagara by the Americans and English. They 
might have been afraid that a war-party of 
Americans and Iroquois would now pass from 
Toronto to Lake Aux Claies, and possibly they 
had all withdrawn to the smaller Lake Cou- 
chiching and the Severn River north of Lake 
Aux Claies, where they could not be so easily 
surprised. 

Don’t you remember,” Frank asked Alois, 
176 


176 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


if tliere were Indians living on the Severn 
when you passed over this route? ” 

I was a pretty small boy them ' Alois told, 
‘‘but I think we passed a small village of 
Missisaugas somewhere on the Severn River/’ 

“ They are just the people I am afraid of,” 
replied Frank. “ The Missisaugas are a band 
of Chippewas and the Chippewas are friendly 
to the French and also to the Ottawas, who 
are enemies of the Americans and English. I 
am afraid that we shall have trouble before 
we reach Lake Huron. iN'ow remember, boys, 
you are not to shoot unless I shoot, or tell 
you to shoot. If we kill an Indian, every 
warrior in his tribe becomes our deadly enemy. 
But whatever happens, don’t be scared and 
don’t whimper ! ” 

In order to avoid running blindly into dan- 
ger, the lads put in a day scouting on foot. 
They passed the Narrows, which connect Lake 
Simcoe with Lake Couchiching, the Lake of 
Many Winds. They walked up along this lake 
until, from the top of a tall tree, they could see 
its outlet, the Severn River. But no tepees or 
smoke or other signs of Indians were visible. 


THE WAK-PARTY 


177 


So they started north next morning. They 
passed carefully through the Narrows, where 
they found many stout poles driven into the 
bottom. 

Alois told them that at this place the In- 
dians often made fish-traps out of poles and 
wattle. 

Les Claies,’’ he said, I think you would 
call fish-traps, and after these fish-traps, the 
French call the big lake which we have just 
crossed. Lac Aux Claies.’’ 

When they had slowly passed over Lake 
Couchiching north of the Narrows, they 
landed on an open spot near its outlet. 

Frank intended to scout again for hostile 
Indians and to take a look at the Severn River 
which flows out of this lake. Alois remem- 
bered that there were some bad rapids in the 
Severn, but he had forgotten their exact loca- 
tion. 

Lake Couchiching is only ten miles long, but 
the boys had stopped at several islands to look 
for recent Indian signs, and it was long past 
the noon hour when they arrived at the foot 
of the lake. Jack and Alois were very hungry 


178 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


and Alois built a small fire to boil some corn 
to eat with tbeir smoked pigeons and venison. 

Frank^s mind was still uneasy about the 
dangers ahead of them. 

I almost wish,” he said, while the corn 
was boiling, ‘‘ that we had gone by way of De- 
troit. We could have passed the fort at 
night. 

Now listen, Alois ! ” he began again after 
a little. ‘‘ If we fall in with any Indians, don’t 
you start in to jabber Chippewa or Ottawa to 
them ! ” 

^^But I think I go along to talk Indian,” 
Alois answered, wondering what Frank had in 
mind. 

No, you are not to talk Indian,” Frank re- 
peated. You talk French to them or English. 
Many of them understand some French and a 
few understand a little English; and we can 
make signs to them if they don’t understand 
what we say.” 

Alois looked puzzled and disappointed. He 
had hoped to shine in the important r61e of 
interpreter, and now he was forbidden to make 
use of his knowledge. 


THE WAK-PAKTY 


179 


You don’t let a word of their lingo escape 
from your mouth, but you keep your ears wide 
open and listen to what they say. Then as 
soon as you can, you tell me what their plans 
are. But be careful, Alois! Don’t let them 
catch you at this game! You know these red 
warriors are very suspicious and are mighty 
sharp observers.” 

Oh, I see, I see ! ” Alois replied. You 
want me to be, — ^to be scout. A sharp spy. 
Ah, I fool them all right. It will be much fun. 
I listened many times to them. They don’t 
talk many words like English do. Just a few 
things they say many times. ^ Kill him, shoot 
him, get deer, catch fat bear, make scalp, burn 
him, make him run gauntlet, bad English- 
man,’ that is what they talk. 

I know them plenty in Iroquois, Shawnee, 
Ottawa, Chippew% and Cree. Ottawa and 
Chippewa and Cree are pretty much all same. 
Ah, my brother, I make good spy for ^^u. We 
fool them plenty.” 

^^Well, I hope you will,” Frank cut him 
short. How don’t get wild and forget your 
part.” 


180 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


^‘Listen! WasnT there a noise in the 
woods? ” 

“ IFs a big gray squirrel,” Jack pointed out. 
“ I see him. Let me go and get him. We can 
boil him with our corn.” 

‘^No, don’t go, Jack,” Frank interposed. 

But I shall step down to the canoe and bring 
our guns. We must always keep them handy.” 

Just as Frank arose, there was a noise, a 
big noise. Four naked Indians, with guns 
aimed at the campers, rushed out of the woods, 
yelling: ^^Bad Englishmen! Bad English- 
men! We got you. We burn you! Bad Eng- 
lishmen ! ” 

Before the lads realized that they were cap- 
tives, one of the Indians had taken the guns of 
the boys from the canoe and had hidden them 
in the woods. 

^^We are caught,” Frank told his friends. 

Don’t be scared and don’t whimper.” 

Two ^ " the Indians tied Frank’s and Jack’s 
hands and feet with strips of bark, while the 
other two looked on. 

Then two of them went to plunder the canoe 
and Alois was ordered to help them land the 


THE WAK-PAKTY 


181 


things. When they saw how much food and 
other things they had captured, they yelled 
and danced like real wild Indians. 

The leader pointed to the fire and said some- 
thing to Alois, and made signs that the In- 
dians were hungry. 

Alois knew what was wanted of him. He 
was now cook for an Indian war-party. 

Jack, as he watched Alois stirring the fire, 
did not know what to think of him, but Frank 
leaned back against a rock and looked on with 
a smile, as if he enjoyed to see Alois at work 
and felt sure of getting his share of the feast. 

As for Alois, he went to work as if he was 
making a feast for dear old friends. When the 
leader pointed to a bag of corn and said: 

Mundahmin,” Alois at once emptied one of 
the bags and filled two kettles of the Indians 
with corn. He even went so far as to put 
pieces of bacon in with the corn, at which the 
Indians acted very much pleased. 

Hang that Frenchman ! ” Jack thought. 

He never worked like that for us.’^ 

As soon as Alois thought the corn and bacon 
were done enough to suit the taste of his cap- 


182 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


tors, he set the kettles before them, and said : 

Eat. Good samp. Good samp. Awful hot.’’ 

By this time, each of the Indians had fin- 
ished three or four pigeons and now the corn 
and bacon went quickly. 

Jack was afraid to say anything, but he 
looked on with ill-concealed anger and won- 
dered if the red devils would continue their 
feast until they had finished the whole boat- 
load of meat and corn. 

They did eat up the whole stock of smoked 
pigeons, but when they had finished these with 
the boiled corn and the bacon, they could do 
no more. 

After the feast they sat down to smoke and 
talk. Their conversation was held in a rather 
low voice, but Alois, who had been ordered to 
keep the fire going, sat close by and had little 
difficulty to catch the drift of the conversa- 
tion. 

They talked Ottawa and Alois soon learned 
that they lived south of Lake Superior. They 
had intended to go on a long raid into the Iro- 
quois country or into Western Pennsylvania, 
but when they had learned that the French 


THE WAR-PAETY 


183 


had lost Niagara, their courage had failed 
them. But their leader had dreamed that they 
would capture some Englishmen and now his 
dream had come true and they exulted at their 
good luck and bragged of their bravery. But 
they were in doubt what to do with their cap- 
tives. The two youngest warriors, scarcely as 
old as Frank, were in favor of killing them and 
taking their scalps home. It was a long way 
home, they argued, and they were afraid the 
Englishmen would run away. 

After a while the leader began to ask Alois 
about Fort Niagara, the number of English 
soldiers and the state of the war. 

Now the time had come when Alois had to 
show how he could hold his own as scout and 
spy. Frank was sitting close enough to guess 
what the talk meant, and he listened anxiously 
to Alois’s answer and furtively watched his 
behavior. Would Alois forget himself and 
start talking to them in Ottawa or Chip- 
pewa? 

But Alois pretended to have understood 
only the word Niagara. He started to tell 
them in French that Sir William Johnson had 


184 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 

taken tke Frenck fort witk a thousand soldiers 
and Iroquois. And then lie spread out the 
fingers of one hand to make them understand 
that Sir William Johnson had five times a 
thousand soldiers and Indians. 

Frank could not tell what impression 
Alois’s story made upon the Indians, but he 
thought Alois was doing well. But what 
would he say next? 

Of course Frank did not know what the In- 
dians had asked, but he had no difS-Culty in 
understanding what Alois told them. 

Alois took pains to assure them that no sol- 
diers and no Iroquois were coming this way. 
When Frank heard that he was much pleased, 
because he knew that Indians quite often 
killed their captives if they were hard-pressed 
by pursuers. 

Then Alois started on another track. Sir 
William Johnson, he said, intended to pun- 
ish all the Indians who had killed English 
prisoners, but if the prisoners were alive 
and well treated, Sir William would buy 
them. 

Evidently Alois had gained the confidence 


THE WAK-PAETY 


185 


of Ms captors, for tlie leader now asked Mm in 
broken French about Montreal, Quebec, and 
Detroit. 

Alois told that be thought the French still 
held these places, but that the English would 
soon take them, because they had many more 
soldiers than the Governor of Quebec. He 
added that the English would soon fight a 
great battle at Quebec as they had done at 
Niagara, for the English had so many big war 
canoes on the big lake that the French king 
could send no more food and soldiers to Que- 
bec. 

Frank was pleased to hear that Alois told 
this story as he had heard it from Atkins at 
Fort Niagara. 

This talk seemed to satisfy the leader and 
he motioned Alois to go and eat and take some 
food to the Englishmen. 

Alois and the Indians did not speak of 
Americans, because the Northern Indians in 
those days distinguished only two kinds of 
white men : Frenchmen and Englishmen. 

When Alois handed the food to his friends, 
he made as much noise as possible, while he 


186 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


whispered, No kill you. I tell them good 
stories.’’ 

To he (Captives was, however, by no means 
pleasant. While Frank and Jack were eating, 
with their hands tied, the Indians chopped 
down two young trees. In each tree they cut 
four notches. Then they made Frank and 
Jack lie down with their ankles in the notches 
of the lower tree. Next they laid the second 
tree over the first one, and firmly tied the ends 
of the trees together. Before they lay down 
near the fire to sleep, they allowed Alois to 
cover each of his friends with a blanket. 

Alois himself they did not tie up, but they 
made him sleep between two of the Indians, 
and they wound a string of buckskin around 
him, the ends of which passed under their own 
blankets. 


CHAPTER XX 


ALOIS AND WINNEBOGO 

That night seemed endless to Jack. In the 
forest the wolves howled and the owls hooted, 
and on the lake the loons cried in those long- 
drawn-out wails, that sound as if the tortured 
spirit of a red warrior had come back to earth. 

The Indians seemed to he fast asleep, but 
some animal was prowling about in the woods. 

“ Frank, there’s a bear coming to eat us up,” 
Jack whispered. 

Don’t be a baby. Jack,” Frank tried to 
console the tortured boy. That’s no bear. 
It’s a harmless skunk nosing around among 
the leaves. Keep still and try to go to sleep. 
Do your ankles hurt? ” 

“ Yes, and my back is cold on the ground.” 

Pull part of your blanket under you and 
try to go to sleep,” urged Frank. It will 
soon be morning. You must not talk to me 
again.” 


187 


188 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


To be in the stocks was bard enough for 
Jack, but not to be able to talk to bis brother 
was harder still. At last, however, he dozed 
off from sheer weariness. 

At daybreak the Indians arose, and Alois, 
without waiting to be told, built a fii’e and 
boiled some venison for breakfast. 

Indians even to this day do not keep regular 
meal hours, but eat whenever they are hungry. 
Alois feared that the Indians would start with- 
out eating any breakfast, but he thought Jack 
and Frank would be so cold and hungry that 
they would be glad to get a little hot broth and 
warm meat for breakfast. 

Alois had lived and camped with Indians 
so much that he understood their ways 
and moods as if they had been his own 
people. 

As he had expected, the Ottawas did not at 
all object to having another feast before they 
continued their journey. 

While the meat was boiling the leader re- 
leased J ack and Frank and a little later, Alois 
gave them each a drink of hot broth and a 
piece of warm meat and then some more 


ALOIS AND WINNEBOGO 


189 


smoked meat, to all of which none of the In- 
dians made any objection. 

After breakfast, while the Ottawas were dis- 
tributing among themselves the small supply 
of trade goods which they had found in the 
canoe of the boys, Alois gathered up some 
wood near his friends and told them in a low 
voice : 

“No look sour. Be happy, and Indian like 
you. We no care, Indian go same way we go. 
I think pretty soon we can talk more.’’ 

Alois was rather surprised that even after 
they had helped themselves to the goods, the 
Ottawas did not prepare to move. The two 
youngest lay down again to sleep and the other 
two sat around and smoked, and Alois told 
Jack and Frank to lie down and sleep. “Make 
’em see,” he added, “you don’t care to run 
away.” 

In the afternoon, however, the warriors put 
their own birch-bark canoe and the canoe of 
the boys in the water and the leader said to 
Alois in French, “We travel little way and 
find better camp.” 

They had not gone far when clouds began to 


190 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 

gather in the northwest, and Jack and Frank 
began to wonder if their captors would travel 
on during a storm and would make them lie in 
the rain during the night. 

After they had travelled about ten miles on 
a swift stream, which is the outlet at the Lake 
of Many Winds, they came to another small 
lake, which is now known as Sparrow Lake. 
The Indians steered for a point toward the 
north end of this lake. This point was shel- 
tered by woods against northwest winds, and 
a set of tepee poles left standing by some party 
of Indians indicated that it was a favorite 
camping place of the Missisaugas and other 
Indians. 

The Indians always select good camp-sites. 
Wherever white travellers and canoists find 
their tepee poles, they may be sure of shelter, 
plenty of fuel, good water, and comparative 
freedom from mosquitoes, that great summer 
pest of northern lakes and woods. 

At this spot the Ottawas landed both canoes 
and at once began to complete the tepee 
by winding a roll of deerskin around the 
poles, while Alois built a fire and began 


ALOIS AND WraNEBOGO 191 

to make anotker feast of boiled com and ven- 
ison. 

Frank noticed that Alois was absolutely 
reckless in the use of provisions. Hang that 
fool Frenchman/’ he thought. He is as im- 
provident as an Indian. He keeps these lazy 
red bucks feasting all the time and in three 
days we shall not have a scrap of food in 
camp/’ but he had no chance to tell Alois what 
he thought of him as a cook. 

At the suggestion of Alois, Frank and Jack 
each rigged up a fish-pole, and using for bait 
pieces of bacon rind, which Alois had saved 
for that very purpose, they had soon caught a 
mess of bass and pike. These Alois fried 
in some venison fat and the Indians were 
very much pleased with their three white 
boys. 

After supper all three of the boys cut dry 
wood for a fire in the tepee, and the Indians 
began to think that these white boys were go- 
ing to be as useful as if the warriors had taken 
their squaws along. 

When they had cut enough wood for the 
night, Alois picked up courage to make a little 


192 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


speech to the leader, whose name he had 
learned was Winnebogo. 

father,” he said, ^^my brothers are 
very tired. Their ankles hurt and they are 
not used to travel like warriors and French- 
men. They ask that they be allowed to make 
their own tepee and sleep on the little island 
near this camp. I will take them over and 
come back with the canoe, and I will not go be- 
hind the island. The rain will come down to- 
night and I wish my brothers to sleep in their 
tepee with a little fire to keep them warm, so 
they can travel, when our father wants to 
travel.” 

The leader, after a little while, told his fol- 
lowers about the request of the boys and after 
they had talked it over, Alois was told that he 
might take his brothers to the island. 

While Alois paddled Frank and Jack across 
the narrow channel, the four Ottawas stood 
outside the tepees closely watching them. 

“ If they try to paddle around the island,” 
the leader had told his men, you may shoot 
them and take their scalps.” 

Alois had not heard these words, but he 


ALOIS AND WINNEBOGO 


193 


knew that the Indians would feel sure that 
their prisoners could not escape, and that for 
that very reason they would be likely to grant 
his request. 

It was not long after Alois had returned 
that Frank and Jack put up their shelter in 
plain sight of the Indians. They stretched 
out their canvas slantingly like one side of a 
roof, and the open space between the ground 
and the canvas on the windward side they 
closed with brush. 

Then they built a fire of driftwood in front 
of the lean-to, thus making the kind of camp in 
which many a northern trapper, woodsman and 
hunter has passed the coldest winter night. 

Neither Frank nor Jack had slept much the 
night before, and any one who has ever missed 
a night of sleep knows how badly a boy wants 
to go to sleep the evening after a restless 
night. 

No sooner did the gentle warmth of the fire 
radiate into the primitive forest-shelter than 
both lads rolled up in their blankets and J ack 
could barely stay awake long enough to take 
off his wet shoes. 


194 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


The Indians, who had slept not only through 
the night but also during the day, sat around 
the camp-fire and talked over their good luck 
and asked Alois about himself and his English 
brothers. 

About himself Alois told a true and simple 
story. His father, he said, was Pierre Du 
Valle, Indian trader at Presque Isle. The 
French had burnt that fort and had all gone to 
help General Pouchot at Fort Niagara. There 
he had become a prisoner. 

Where did you find the English boys?’’ 
asked Winnebogo. 

“ They were also prisoners at Niagara, and 
they helped me to carry a wounded French- 
man in from the woods and take him to the 
white doctor.” 

“Where are you going now?” asked the 
Indians. 

“To visit friends at the Sault Ste. Marie, 
if no English soldiers have gone there.” 

“Where were the English boys going? ” 

“ With me to Sault Ste. Marie.” 

“ The English boys are our prisoners now,” 
declared Winnebogo, “ and my two young men 


ALOIS AKD WimEBOGO 195 

■wish to Idll them. They have never taken 
scalps and they wish to be counted as war- 
riors.” 

^^'ow was the time for Alois to prove that he 
could be true and useful to his friends. He 
knew how eager young Indian warriors were 
to return with scalps from their first war- 
party and how difficult it would be to persuade 
them to spare his friends. But he had been 
present at many an Indian council, and he was 
determined to make the case of his friends as 
strong as possible. 

“ The English boys are not warriors,” he 
pleaded. ‘^Will my father, who has met the 
brave Iroquois in battle, bring home the scalps 
of children? Shall the Ottawa women say, 
^Winnebogo’s heart has grown faint; he was 
afraid to fight the Iroquois and the English 
soldiers, and he brought in only the scalps of 
young boys ’? Why does my father not give 
the English boys to his squaw? They will 
make good sons and will soon learn to hunt. 
Let his young men take scalps in battle with 
the Iroquois, as he did himself, as did the 
great Ottawa chief Pontiac, and as is the cus- 


196 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 

tom of all Ottawa warriors. The French 
have always told that the Ottawas are brave 
warriors. Shall Winnebogo^s men scalp boys, 
who were prisoners and had no weapons? ’’ 

At these words Winnebogo’s face looked 
dark, but Alois could not tell whether he had 
spoken too boldly or whether Winnebogo was 
angry at his young men. 

Will the English soldiers come to Kitchi- 
gumi? ” Winnebogo asked after a long silence. 

Sir William Johnson will soon march to 
Detroit and then to Sault Ste. Marie with ten 
thousand soldiers,” replied Alois, honestly be- 
lieving that he told the truth. And he held up 
the fingers of both hands to make sure that 
Winnebogo understood that he meant to say 
ten times a thousand men. ^^But when the 
French and English have made peace. Sir 
William Johnson will give many beaver skins, 
blankets, and guns for the English boys.” 

Alois did not press his plea any farther, 
knowing that Indians like to take plenty of 
time before they decide anything. 

Very soon the storm came up. The Ottawas 
withdrew into their tepee, and Winnebogo 


ALOIS AND WINNEBOGO 


197 


asked Alois to come in and spread Ms blanket 
between tbe door and tbe fire. TMs was not 
tbe place assigned to an honored guest, but it 
showed Alois that Winnebogo did not treat 
him as a prisoner. 

In the tepee, Winnebogo told his young men 
what he had learned from Alois, but the young 
men still desired to kill the American boys so 
they might be honored as real Ottawa war- 
riors. 


CHAPTER XXI 


GRAVE DANGER 

Xext morning, when Alois paddled to the 
island to fetch Frank and Jack, the Indians 
did not seem to watch him at all, but he was 
nevertheless careful not to arouse their sus- 
picion. He did not leave che canoe, but as the 
two boys came down to the landing he urged 
them again not to look sour, but to be happy. 

“And you go plenty fishing,’’ he added, “and 
take swim and holler like boys when they have 
good time. I think Winnebogo like that. 

“ But you no go hunting with young men,” 
he resumed after a pause, while he looked ear- 
nestly at Frank. “ You no stay behind and no 
paddle ahead in canoe with them. You know 
nothing, I say nothing, but, Frank, you watch 
’em, I say. They are young men and never 
brought scalps home.” 

After the party had camped for several days 
198 


GRAVE DANGER 


199 


on the point in Sparrow Lake and kad eaten 
up nearly all tke provisions, they started down 
the Severn, which is a very swift stream with 
one big fall and many rapids. On all the 
portages the French boy managed to travel 
close to Frank and Jack, whenever Winnebogo 
was not with them. 

Alois had learned that there was a village of 
Missisaugas on this stream. He had expected 
that the Indians would stop there to show 
their prisoners, and he had dreaded the recep- 
tion they would be given and the abuse to 
which they would be exposed. But to his sur- 
prise the Ottawas timed their journey in such 
a way that they passed the Missisaugas after 
dark, and then they did not stop at all, till 
they made camp in a secluded spot on Stur- 
geon Bay, which is a part of Georgian Bay of 
Lake Huron. 

Here they stopped several days to fish and 
hunt, but they did not allow Alois to build a 
fire after dark. Frank and Jack were allowed 
to fish all they wanted and to sleep unbound 
under their own canvas shelter. Alois occu- 
pied his usual place in the tepee of the Indi- 


200 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


alls, who always took all guns and paddles 
into the tepee. 

The Indians seemed to feel sure now that 
Frank and Jack could not escape, but they did 
not let them touch any weapons, not even their 
hunting knives and axes, except when fish 
were to be cleaned or wood was to be cut. 

Alois, on the other hand, was more and more 
treated as one of their own. He could go 
where he wanted to, and was even allowed the 
use of a gun. 

It was at this place that Alois learned why 
the Ottawas had quietly passed the Missisauga 
village at night. This tribe had lost several 
men in the war against the English and Amer- 
icans, and the Ottawas feared that at the sight 
of their prisoners the Missisaugas would be- 
come enraged and would try to kill them in 
revenge for the men they had lost. 

From now on Winnebogo travelled very 
slowly, and from time to time the party 
stopped to hunt and fish. 

As none of the boys had made the slightest 
move to make their captors think that they 
would tiy to escape, they were given more and 


GEAYE DAISTGEE 


201 


more liberty. Even tbeir knives were returned 
to Frank and J ack, but guns they were not yet 
allowed to handle. 

About the middle of September Winnebogo 
had made camp on one of the islands at the 
mouth of French Eiver. This river is the out- 
let of Lake Mpissing, and is a part of a canoe 
route from Lake Huron to Montreal and Que- 
bec. The route was much used in those days 
by both Indians and French. From Quebec 
to Montreal they travelled up the St. Law- 
rence. ^^Tear Montreal they turned into the 
Ottawa Eiver, and from the head waters of 
this river they portaged over to the head 
waters of Lake Mpissing. 

By using this route the French avoided the 
dreaded Iroquois altogether and entered the 
Upper Lakes, Huron, Michigan and Superior, 
so to speak, by the back door. The route was 
much shorter than the Lake Ontario and Lake 
Erie route. It involved, however, several long 
and difficult portages, but its main advantage 
was that it avoided all danger from the Iro- 
quois, or Six Nations, who had been hostile to 
the French ever since the days of Champlain. 


202 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


While Winnebogo was in camp at the mouth 
of Fi^ench Eiver, two Chippewas coming direct 
from Montreal brought the most exciting news 
of the war: The English had taken Quebec. 
All the French soldiers had been made prison- 
ers. The great French General, Montcalm, 
had been Idlled, and Quebec now had an Eng- 
lish governor. 

The Ottawas would, at first, not believe the 
story, but the Chippewas told it again and 
again with so much detail, that the Ottawas 
had to believe it. 

The great fight had taken place on the ninth 
day of the Month of Turning Leaves, the Chip- 
pewa name for September. The English had 
not taken any scalps of their prisoners, but 
they had given them food and were going to 
send them away on ships. This last part of 
the story the Ottawas refused to believe, but 
the Chippewas insisted that it was true. 

The story of the fall of Quebec added to the 
reputation of the Little Frenchman, as the 
Ottawas called Alois, much more than he him- 
self realized. The Chippewas also repeated 
Alois’s story that Johnson had marched or 



Two Chippewas brought the most exciting news of the war 

Page 202. 



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GEAYE DANGEE 


203 


sailed with a big army to Detroit and to the 
Sault. They were so much afraid of this 
army and believed the story so firmly that they 
were not going to stop either at Michilmacki- 
nac, now called Mackinac, or at the Sault. 
They were going directly to Grand Portage on 
Lake Superior, and then to their homes in the 
wilds of the present State of Minnesota. Into 
that far-off wilderness, they felt sure, the sol- 
diers of Sir William Johnson could not follow. 

Winnebogo wanted the Chippewas to travel 
with his party, but they said they wanted to 
hurry home to see if their squaws had gath- 
ered enough wild rice for the winter and to 
find a good winter camp where deer and moose 
would be plentiful. 

On the next day Winnebogo also broke 
camp. When he reached the Sault Ste. Marie 
he made the boys abandon their elm-bark 
canoe, and the whole party of seven men trav- 
elled along the north shore of Lake Superior 
in the large birch-bark canoe of the Ottawas, 
which they had carried past the rapids on the 
Canadian side of the Soo.’^ 

From the time they came down the Severn 


204 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


until they met the two Chippewas the four Ot- 
tawas had been in no hurry about anything. 
When they travelled they let the white boys do 
the paddling, and in camp they did nothing 
but sleep, lie around, gamble with plum-stones 
and eat the fish which the boys caught and 
cooked for them. 

But since they had become convinced that 
the greatest French stronghold had been taken 
by the English, they could not travel fast 
enough. They hardly took time to eat and 
sleep; and each man paddled as if the enemy 
was close behind him. 

Alois began to fear that they might kill his 
friends in a frenzy of fear and told them that 
no English soldiers would come along the 
north shores of Lake Huron and Superior, but 
they did not slacken their speed till they 
reached a beautiful, quiet bay with high rocky 
cliffs on both sides and a large island some 
twenty miles out in the lake, and just barely 
visible on the horizon to their left. 

When Alois was quite a small boy, he had 
gone with his father to Mackinac and the 

Soo,^’ and to several points on the south 


GKAYE DANGER 


205 


shore of Lake Superior, but with the north 
shore of this lake, the largest of all American 
lakes, he was acquainted only from hearsay. 

He learned from Winnebogo that the Michi- 
picoten River flowed into this bay, and that 
the large island, ten leagues long and two or 
three wide, ofl in the big lake, was kn own to 
the Indians as Michipicoten Island. 

Alois could not understand why these Ot- 
tawa Indians, whose tribe lived south of the 
lake, should want to make camp on this se- 
cluded bay north of the lake; but he did not 
think it wise to ask any questions. 

A little way up the river in a sheltered spot 
they came upon a deserted Indian camp. 
Alois heard from the talk of the Ottawas that 
they were much disappointed to find this camp 
deserted. They had expected to find here a 
small village of friendly Muskegoes or Wood 
Indians, from whom they had expected to 
learn if there were any Englishmen at the 
Soo ’’ and on the south shore. 

At first they were inclined to think that the 
Muskegoes had fled because they also were 
afraid of the English, and Alois tried his best 


206 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


to persuade them that they need not be afraid 
of any Englishmen or Americans coming to 
this part of the country. 

He was sure, the Little Frenchman ex- 
plained to them, that no Englishmen would 
follow them along the Ottawa Kiver, Lake 
Nipissing and Georgian Bay route. The Eng- 
lish would now try to take Montreal and per- 
haps Michilmackinac and the Sault Ste. 
Marie, but they would certainly send no sol- 
diers to the wilderness on the Michipico- 
ten. 

And he remembered, Alois told further, 
that the Muskegoes on Michipicoten Eiver 
sometimes took their furs across the Height of 
Lands and paddled down the Missinaibi River 
to trade with the English on Hudson Bay. So 
the Muskegoes would not be afraid of the 
English. 

But the Ottawas were so panic-stricken that 
they carefully examined the camping place of 
the Muskegoes and followed their trail up- 
stream to the nearest portage before they were 
convinced that the Little Frenchman had told 
the truth, and that the Muskegoes had not left 


GEAYE DANGEE 207 

tEeir camp in flight but had gone off to hunt 
rabbits or caribou. 

Alois now thought that the Ottawas were 
convinced that they were in no danger, and 
that they would not plan to do anything des- 
perate to their prisoners. 

But that same evening he had to listen to a 
council which made him fear greatly for the 
safety of his friends. 

The Ottawas decided that they would soon 
go on a caribou hunt up the Michipicoten 
Eiver. The young men then argued again 
that it would be much safer for all of them if 
they killed their prisoners. This should be 
done when they had returned to camp with a 
supply of caribou meat. In this way they 
would be honored as warriors, but the English 
would never know that Winnebogo^s warriors 
had taken English scalps. If they took 
the prisoners to the Ottawas’ own country 
some other Ottawa might kill them and take 
their scalps. Or the prisoners might run 
away, or the Blackcoat and the Ottawas, who 
prayed to the white man’s God, might compel 
them to give up the prisoners. Perhaps Sii 


208 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


William Johnson would take the prisoners 
away without paying for them, and then all 
the Ottawas, both women and warriors, would 
laugh at Winnebogo and his young men. 

Winnebogo did not consent to this plan, but 
he did not object to it as strongly as he had 
done on the Severn. 

Alois lay awake all night making plan after 
plan to avert this terrible danger to his 
friends. 


CHAPTER XXn 


THE PLOT 

Of course tlie Ottawas did not go on a 
caribou bunt the next day. That is not the 
Indian way of doing things. A matter of 
such importance had to be talked over a few 
days, and in the meantime they lived on the 
fish which the white boys caught at the mouth 
of the Michipicoten River, where the fishing 
was unusually good. 

All three of the boys were now permitted to 
do very much as they pleased. They were 
even allowed to use guns and hatchets as they 
pleased. Frank had earned the good-will of 
Winnebogo by repairing his gun. For such 
emergencies Frank had brought from Fort Ni- 
agara a few simple tools such as a screw- 
driver, a file, and a few pieces of wire and a 
few nails. When the other three Ottawas saw 
how handy Frank was, they also had him re- 
pair their guns. 


209 


210 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


In matters of this kind the Indians were 
slow to learn from the white men. Sir Will- 
iam Johnson earned much good-will among 
the Six Nations by keeping a few blacksmiths 
among them. 

The boys put in most of their time fishing. 
They caught a few brook trout and pickerel, 
but their meat-fish were the large and well- 
fiavored lake trout, for which at this time of 
the year they fished with bait in deep water. 

The lake trout, or Mackinac trout, is to this 
day the most valuable food-fish of Lake Supe- 
rior; and in the days of Winnebogo and his 
white prisoners, the lake teemed with these 
fine fish, which are one of the best fresh-water 
fish of North America. 

On the first fishing-party at the mouth of 
the river, Alois told his friends with much 
earnestness of the great danger to which they 
were still exposed. He also told them of the 
plan he had formed for their safety. 

They want to kill you ! he said savagely. 

But we kill them first. Kill them all! 

^^You fix the guns,’^ he told Frank, ^^and 
load them. When they sit around the fire, 


THE PLOT 


211 


we run to the guns and kill them all. Pouf; 
pouf! Quick, like that! If we don’t kill 
them, they sure kill you.” 

Frank was too well acquainted with Indian 
character and customs to flout Alois’s warn- 
ing, but he strongly abhorred adopting the 
treacherous methods of the savages. 

“We can’t shoot these men in the back,” he 
objected. “ They have treated us pretty well, 
as Indians treat their prisoners. And how 
could we ever go amongst the Ottawas to look 
for Fred with the blood of these men on our 
hands? ” 

“ You kill them, or they kill you ! ” Alois 
exclaimed. “I tell you no lie, I tell the 
truth.” 

“Alois, I believe that you tell the truth,” 
Frank replied. “ But I would feel like a mur- 
derer if I killed these men when they were not 
looking.” 

“ You feel dead pretty soon ! ” Alois argued 
excitedly, “ if you don’t lull them.” 

The French boy had witnessed so many 
scenes of Indians slowly torturing their pris- 
oners to death that he could not understand 


212 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 

wliy Frank was not willing to turn unexpect- 
edly on kis captors and just kill them. 

^^Your people do it many times,” he per- 
sisted. Your father kill one Indian that 
way when he cross the mountains.” 

“Yes, he did, hut it was done to save my 
mother.” 

“ You kill Ottawas to save Jack and your- 
self.” 

“ Don^t talk about it,” cried Frank, the per- 
spiration standing in drops on his forehead. 
“ I could kill them in a fair fight if they at- 
tacked us, but how can we shoot them down in 
cold blood? It would be murder, black, 
brutal murder ! ” 

“You know Indians?” argued Alois exas- 
perated. “ You are big fools if you think they 
give you fair fight. You say in the English 
speech, ‘All is fair in love and war.’ ” 

“ Yes, we say it, but it is a lie, and we don’t 
believe it.” 

“ All right,” Alois concluded. “ I tell you. 
They sure kill you, unless you kill them first.” 

“ Can’t you see, Alois,” Frank argued again 
after a short silence, “that we would never 


THE PLOT 


213 


dare show ourselves amongst the Ottawas if 
we murdered these men? The whole tribe 
would hunt us down.” 

The Ottawas?” Alois replied with a laugh. 
^^Sir William Johnson is there with 10,000 
men.” 

Alois, you^re a child, just like an Indian,” 
Frank retorted with impatience, ^‘when it 
comes to understanding the war. Johnson 
never had 10,000 men. He couldn’t march a 
thousand of them to the Sault, nor could he 
build ships for them on Lake Erie. The 
Americans and English will first take Mon- 
treal before they send a man to Detroit or to 
the Sault. They won’t have to take these 
places after they take Montreal. All these 
western forts will have to give up without a 
fight, because they will be cut off. I don’t be- 
lieve a word of that whole story.” 

I believe it,” Alois maintained obstinately. 
‘^And the Indians believe it.” 

Oh, fiddlesticks,” exclaimed Frank impa- 
tiently. ^^The Indians are children and su- 
perstitious heathen. The more crazy a story, 
the more firmly they believe it. Alois, I bet 


214 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


you a new gun against a bunch of blueberries 
that there isn’t an Englishman within a thou* 
sand miles of us. 

No, Alois ! We can’t murder these men. 
We have to find some other way. Now let us 
return to camp, or they will get suspicious 
again and watch us more closely.” 

In the afternoon the Indians proposed that 
they should shoot at a mark. 

“You shoot a little bad, and load your 
gun right away again,” Alois whispered to 
Frank and Jack as they went to fetch their 
guns. 

The young Indians proposed that the white 
boys should shoot first, but Alois appealed to 
Winnebogo saying that it was fit that a war- 
rior should open the match and that then they 
should take turns. 

Jack, after taking very careful aim, did not 
come within a foot of the mark. Alois did a 
little better, but Frank, appearing nervous, 
did not even hit the tree on which the target 
was painted. 

The next day they all went on a caribou 
hunt, and Alois prevailed upon Winnebogo 


THE PLOT 


216 


that his white sons should go with him that 
they might learn to hunt and to shoot. 

They had gone about five miles from camp 
when Winnebogo killed a young caribou, and 
when the meat was cut up into three portions, 
the boys carried it to camp. 

The three young Indians came home in the 
evening very hungry, but without any game 
except two rabbits. 

On the following day the boys went fishing 
again, and when they were off on the bay, 
Alois once more broached his plan of Idlling 
their captors as their only means of safety and 
escape. 

^^We throw them all in the river,” he con- 
cluded, ^^and the Ottawa people will never 
know what happened to them. Many Indian 
warriors never come back, and nobody knows 
who kill them.” 

Frank was convinced that the young war- 
riors meant mischief, but he would not hear of 
killing them by surprise. 

He laid before his friends a plan of his own, 
by which he believed they could escape from 
the Ottawas. 


216 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


It won^t work/’ Alois insisted obstinately. 
“ We have to kill them first. Frank, you held 
your gun at me at Presque Isle,” he argued. 

Yes, I did,” admitted Frank, “ but I did 
not intend to shoot you.” 

You looked as if you would and scared me 
very bad,” retorted Alois. “ I pretty near 
threw my big Imife at you.” 

You would have been a dead Frenchman 
if you had,” J ack broke in. I wanted to tie 
you to a tree, but Frank wouldn’t let me.” 

Ah, Jack, you are a bad friend,” Alois re- 
plied laughing. “ i^ow I sure let the Ottawa 
bucks take off your hair.” 

Finally Alois consented to try Frank’s plan. 

To-night I fix some guns again,” said 
Frank, “ and I see that all the guns are loaded. 
Then we all slip a little powder in our pockets 
for the priming pans. If it does not rain, and 
is not windy, I give you the signal to-morrow. 

Alois, you make a big meal, and after the 
Indians have eaten and sit around the fire, we 
try our plan.” 

But if it does not work, we kill them first,” 
insisted Alois. 


THE PLOT 


217 


I agree/’ Frank promised. “ If my plan 
miscarries, we shoot them all and throw them 
in the river. We shall have to. We can’t 
take chances staying with them after we have 
tried to escape.” 

As the boys had expected, the Indians, still 
tired from their hunting trip, slept long in the 
morning, and when they came out of their 
tepee, Alois had a big meal ready for them. 

Jack had a hard time to conceal his excite- 
ment, but as he watched the Indians he 
thought they would eat up the whole caribou 
calf at one meal. 

When they could eat no more, Winnebogo 
sat down to smoke, while the young men 
stretched themselves out near the fire and pre- 
pared to go to sleep again. Alois and Jack 
also lay down. 

When they all had been silent for about half 
an hour, Frank quietly arose and put some 
wood on the fire, including a stick with a few 
green leaves on it. 

That was the signal agreed upon. 

The three white boys sprang to a near-by 
tree against which the guns were leaning. 


218 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


March, to the canoe ! Frank shouted in 
French. 

The surprised Indians sprang to their feet, 
but they hesitated to obey the order. 

March ! march ! ” cried Alois, or you are 
all dead men ! ’’ 

The Ottawas realized that they were com- 
pletely outwitted and marched slowly down to 
the canoe, in which Frank had placed four 
paddles. 

The boys walked close behind them, each 
carrying two guns. 

Get in and paddle home ! ” Frank ordered. 

Let us have our guns,” requested the 
young men. 

^lo,” replied Alois in French. They are 
our pay for the food you have stolen from us ! ” 

But Frank ordered Jack to fire off Winne- 
bogo’s gun and hand it to him. “ Because,” 
he said, ^^Winnebogo has really saved our 
lives from the young men.” 

No sooner had the Ottawas pushed off than 
the young Indians began to use vile language 
and said that they would go and kill the 
brothers and parents of the English boys, and 


THE PLOT 


219 


one of them, in his rage, threw his tomahawk 
at the lads on shore. 

At this Alois lost his temper and fired at 
the young Ottawa, narrowly missing his 
head. 

When the youn 7 Indians saw that the lads 
were not to he trifled with, they paddled 
quickly out into the lake. 

The boys watched them until the canoe dis- 
appeared from view, but Alois could not re- 
strain himself from going through all the mo- 
tions of the scalp dance before the Indians 
were out of sight. 

Jack and Alois went back to camp to eat 
some more caribou. Alois said he had only 
pretended to eat in the morning. Frank 
walked down the shore southeast a way to 
make sure that their Ottawa friends did not 
come back. 

A few miles down the bay, he climbed one of 
the high cliffs from which he watched the ca- 
noe for an hour. 

The Ottawas were going straight down the 
lake, and were keeping well off from shore. It 
was evident that they had no intention to re- 


220 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


turn to tlie white boys, who bad beaten them 
so badly at their own game, and who could 
have killed them all and thrown them in the 
river. 

You fool Little Frenchman, you ! ” Frank 
greeted his friend in camp. “ You came near 
spoiling my plan at the end. Don’t you know 
that if you had killed that man, his compan- 
ions would have been in duty bound to come 
back and avenge his death? ” 

Won’t they come back now? ” asked Jack, 
to whom this had been the most exciting day 
in life. 

‘‘Not very likely,” Frank answered. “I 
think they have seen enough of us.” 

“ No, they will never come back,” Alois de- 
clared. “And their people will never know 
that they have been at Michipicoten, and how 
they lost their guns. They will tell that they 
lost them in a storm or in the rapids on the 
Severn. Indians are all big liars.” 

“ It seems to me,” Frank began to banter his 
friend, “ that some Frenchmen are pretty good 
liars, too. How about that story of 10,000 
men marching to the Soo? ” 


THE PLOT 


221 


I make no lie about tbat/^ Alois defended 
himself, I think it was true.’’ 

Alois, where is your head? ” Frank asked 
laughing. ^^How could 10,000 men march a 
thousand miles through the forest? How 
could they transport their baggage? On what 
could they live? It is impossible, Alois. 
Johnson had a hard time to feed two thousand 
men at Fort Niagara. 

^^You scared those Ottawas so with your 
crazy stories that they came near killing us, 
but you are a good scout and a good cook. 
Now broil me some caribou meat, please ; I’m 
hungry.” 

Frank, how will those Ottawas live now? ” 
asked Jack. They can’t kill any game.” 

“The Ottawas?” cried Alois laughing. 
“ They catch them a porcupine, and roast him, 
with the stickers on. They won’t starve.” 

“ Boys, you may have a bonfire for a while,” 
said Frank, when he sat down to eat. “ Then 
you can roll in, but I shall keep watch when 
you go to bed. We must not be careless 
again.” 


CHAPTER XXm 


TROUBLED BOYS 

Frank let the camp-fire go out soon after 
Jack and Alois had crept into the tepee, where 
they built another fire to take the chill out of 
the place, for the autumn nights were growing 
cold. 

For some time Frank sat leaning against a 
tree. From his position he could see the tepee 
and the canoe-landing at the river. After a 
while it occurred to him that if the Ottawas 
came back they would not land at the usual 
place, but farther down on the bay, and then 
creep up through the woods. 

He wrapped a blanket around himself and 
sat down under an old yellow birch, whose big 
trunk looked as dark and rough as that of an 
old elm-tree. Overhead the stars glistened 
and the moon stood high over the lake and 
made the great cliffs across the bay stand out 
in bold relief. 

A hare thumped the ground close by, being 
222 


TROUBLED BOYS 


223 


alarmed by tbe strange creature under tbe 
tree. From tbe distance came tbe wild cry of 
a lynx. A flock of noisy loons played and 
called on tbe water and hundreds of wild 
ducks passed over on whistling wings and 
dropped splashing into tbe bay. 

Thoughts of his far-away home passed 
through the boy^s mind. He had given a let- 
ter for his parents to Atkins at Fort Magara. 
If this letter had reached them, they would 
know how far he and Jack had traced Wagoo- 
shaw, and that with a French lad they had 
started for the Ottawa country. Since that 
time it had been impossible to send word 
home. 

Finding and releasing his lost brother 
seemed as difficult a problem as ever. For the 
present Frank himself and Jack were free 
from immediate danger. But would it not be 
madness to cross over into the Ottawa and 
Chippewa country? He was convinced that 
there was not an Englishman or American 
south of Lake Superior, and if Frank and the 
other two lads did dare to enter that country, 
he and Jack would at once be made prisoners 


224 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


again as Englislimen, and most likely they 
would be killed by some Indian wbo had lost a 
relative in the war. 

The fact that the English had taken Quebec 
and Fort Magara would make it only more 
dangerous for any one of English blood to go 
amongst the hostile Ottawas and Chippewas, 
few of whom had ever seen English regulars 
or American colonial troops. These tribes, 
Frank felt quite sure, still adhered firmly to 
the French, who had traded with them and 
lived amongst them for a hundred years. 

And there was another trouble to which 
Alois and Jack seemed to have given very lit- 
tle thought, but which weighed heavily on 
Frank^s mind. Since they had driven the Ot- 
tawas out of camp, they had no canoe. On 
their hunting trip and short excursions near 
camp, Frank had seen neither elms nor white 
birch suitable for canoes. 

The yellow birch grows abundantly near the 
north shore of Lake Superior, but its bark is 
too thin and shreddy when the tree is young, 
and too rough and brittle when the tree is old. 

Perhaps, Frank thought, they might find 


TROUBLED BOYS 


225 


suitable birch or elm trees farther away from 
the lake, but even if they did it would not help 
them now. It was now so late in the season 
that the bark would not peel. Nor did Frank 
feel at all sure that they could make a service- 
able birch-bark canoe, even if they had the 
bark. He was woodsman enough to realize 
that most of the simple arts and crafts of the 
Indians are not simple at all for a white man. 

Hang it all,” the lad said to himself. We 
are rid of the Ottawas, but now we are ma- 
rooned in this wilderness with winter coming 
on.” 

It was about midnight when he returned to 
camp and aroused Jack and Alois. 

Get up, you sleepy heads ! ” he called as he 
shook the drowsy boys. Get up now and do 
your turn at guard duty. Put on all the 
clothes you have and wrap up in your blan- 
kets. It is beastly cold, and the hoarfrost is 
on the brush ! ” 

May we build a fire? ” asked Jack as he 
sleepily tied his leggtns. 

Build a fire? ” repeated Frank. Brother 
Jack ! You are to keep the Ottawas away, not 


226 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


light them back to camp. Patrol the bay, or 
sit down on shore, but don’t you dare to build 
a fire ! ” 

When some six hours later Prank awoke 
and saw the sun shine bright on lake and river 
and on the golden forest of birch and poplar, 
his spirits revived. 

^^Boys,” he called, “let us have a good 
warm breakfast, and then let us go and ex- 
plore. 

“ Those Ottawa raiders kept us in a sort of 
outdoor jail. We have been here a week and 
know almost nothing about the country 
around us. We may have to sitay here a long 
time.” 

The first thing the boys examined was the 
old French trading-house. It was a small log 
building consisting of two rooms, one larger 
room used as a storeroom for furs and goods, 
and the smaller room, provided with a fire- 
place, used as the living-room by the trader. 
There was nothing in the building but a few 
pieces of crude furniture made out of logs 
with no other tools than an axe and an auger, 
a few steel traps, and two full-sized axes. 


TEOUBLED BOYS 


227 


Frank gave a skout wken he saw the axes. 

They are just what we want/’ he said. I 
always hated to cut wood with thesi. little 
hand-axes and Indian hatchets. They are all 
right for the squaws, but no good for a white 
man.” 

Frank and Jack would have liked to know 
where the trader had gone. Alois suggested 
that the French might have given up the post, 
or the trader might have gone with the In- 
dians on their hunting or fishing trip. 

“ I think, maybe, the Muskego Indians come 
back pretty soon,” suggested Alois. Indians 
are always moving. Sometimes they hunt or 
fish, then they pick blueberries or gather wild 
rice. Sometimes they go crap beaver, and 
in spring they go off to make maple sugar. 
They like to travel around, I think.” 

They have to travel about,” Frank added. 
“ They must go where their food is found at 
the different seasons.” 

Within a few days the boys knew the coun- 
try around camp pretty well. The Michipico- 
ten River brought down the water from sev- 
eral lakes and from a number of side streams, 


228 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 

some of wMcli also drained lakes. The whole 
country was a wilderness of lakes, streams, 
rocks, xnd forest. Prom some high points the 
lads could see half a dozen lakes. Some of 
these were several miles long, others were 
mere ponds. There were so many that it was 
impossible to visit them all. 

Every day the lads found something new. 
The general atmosphere of the country, its 
trees, its scenery, all were different from any- 
thing they had ever seen. And the weather 
was so delightful as if made for a boys^ explor- 
ing trip. The nights were cool, but the days 
were warm and summery, and gone were all 
the pests with which an evil spirit seems to 
have cursed the N’orthland, the mosquitoes, 
blackflies, deerflies, no-see-’ems, and detestable 
wood-ticks. 

Although the lads did not know it, they 
were now camping in the region of Horth 
America, which might well be called ‘^The 
Land of Hundred Thousand Lakes and Count- 
less Streams.” 

Ho man has ever counted the clear lakes and 
streams within a radius of three hundred 


TROUBLED BOYS 


229 


miles of Lake Superior and no man ever will 
count them. A goodly portion of the land 
they drain the Good Lord in His wisdom has 
not made for the growing of corn and pota- 
toes, hut for the growth of forests and for an 
asylum for wild animals and birds to make the 
earth interesting to all men whose eyes can 
see beyond profit counted in dollars, and 
whose ears are not deaf to the music of 
streams an*^ birds. As long as rain and snow 
shall fall from the clouds, the rock-basin lakes 
will fill and the streams will sing to the music 
of the wind and wild birds and the fish will 
leap from the silver mirrors. And the men 
and women, who shall dip their paddles in 
those waters, and carry packs and make camps 
on the old trails, shall find the Fountain of 
Youth. For this is the Magic Land, where 
men and women shall be boys and girls 
again. 

Frank thought it would be fine to lay in a 
supply of nuts if they had to stay at that 
camp for some time. It would be a change 
from nothing but meat and fish. However, he 
was disappointed in his search for nut-bearing 


230 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


trees. In New York and Pennsylvania, he 
could easily have found large trees of black 
walnut, butternut, shellbark, hickory, and 
chestnuts, but not one of these trees could he 
find on the Michipicoten. Of hazel brush 
there was plenty, but the chipmunks and red 
squirrels had gathered all the nuts. Isolated 
groves of sugar maples contained the only 
trees the boys had known well farther east. 
On low land everywhere they found aspen and 
yellow birch mixed with balsam firs and 
spruces. The higher lands, where they did not 
consist of bare rocks, were covered with pine, 
and in many swamps grew dense thickets of 
black spruce as well as patches of tamarack 
and cedar. The lads felt that they were in a 
world very different from that around their 
home on the Conewango. 

But the trees and rocks were not the only 
signs of a new and strange country. In the 
forests south of Lake Erie there was an abun- 
dance of game ; the region north of Lake Supe- 
rior, although it seemed uninhabited, har- 
bored very little game. There were no wild 
turkeys, no gray squirrels, no racoons, not 


TEOIJBLED BOYS 


231 


even any deer. There were, however, plenty of 
rabbits, of a kind bigger than the cottontails 
of the East. There was a fair number of two 
kinds of grouse, or partridges, as the boys 
called them. Both were very tame, but the 
kind they found in the spruce and tamarack 
swamps were so tame that they could kill them 
with a stick. 

On some small streams they found again 
that miracle of the forest, beaver dams and 
beaver houses. In some of the lakes they also 
found beaver houses, but in the lakes there 
were no dams. The boys discovered many 
places where the beavers had cut down poplar 
trees, some of them a foot in diameter, but 
they saw only a few beavers. Those swam 
with their heads just out of the water, and 
dived with a big banging splash. The Ameri- 
can boys learned now what Alois had meant 
when he said the beavers swore with their 
tails. Alois did not know how to catch the 
beavers, but they were good to eat, he 
claimed, and the Indians knew how to catch 
them. 

Of caribou they found no trace, and Alois 


232 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


said the caribou travelled a good deal just like 
the Indians. 

A whole week the lads put in exploring, 
hunting, and fishing. Of the Ottawas, whom 
they had sent away, they did not see a sign, al- 
though they were constantly on the lookout 
for them. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


MAKOONED ON THE MICHIPICOTBN 

When day after day passed without the re- 
turn of the Muskegoes, the boys became very 
much worried. 

They had no food but the fish and rabbits 
and grouse they secured from day to day. The 
nights grew very cold, and one day there was a 
fiurry of snow, although it was now only the 
last week of September. 

They were afraid that the supply of small 
game would give out, and they did not know 
that fish might be caught through the ice. 

Alois 1 Jd that he had heard of other places 
on the Xorth Shore where there were villages 
of friendly Muskegoes; at Pic River, on the 
Xipigon, and on the Kaministiquia. But 
when he added that the nearest of these vil- 
lages, the one on Pic River, was a hundred 

miles from the Michipicoten, and the other 
233 


234 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


two places each a hundred miles farther, the 
American boys were in despair. 

How can we ever get to one of these places 
on foot? asked Jack. 

We can’t do it,” Frank decided. There 
is no trail along this lake, and the country is 
the roughest I ever saw.” 

^^Ho, there is no trail along this lake as 
along the Lakes Ontario and Erie,” said Alois. 

The Indians always travel along the shore in 
canoes.” 

^^Well, that settles it,” Frank declared. 
“We have to camp on the Michipicoten till 
spring, when we must try to build a canoe, 
unless we happen to fall in with some friendly 
Indians.” 

“ I tell you what we will do. We will move 
into the old French trading-house. We can 
fix the roof and chink up the walls with moss 
and mud, and that room with the fireplace 
ought to be warmer than the tepee.” 

“Now let us get busy. Frank and I will 
cut wood, and to-night we shall move into our 
log cabin.” 

“Alois, I wish you would go and hunt rab- 


MAKOONED ON THE MICHIPICOTEN 235 


bits. You are tbe best woodsman of us three, 
and I know you will not get lost.” 

No man get lost here,” Alois replied laugh- 
ing. you get turned round, you just 

travel down hill or down little stream, till 
you come to big lake. You can’t lose the 
big lake. It run along six hundred miles, 
maybe more.” 

Six hundred miles, and all one big lake? ” 
Jack exclaimed. 

“ Yes, six hundred miles, Frenchmen say, if 
you paddle along shore from Sault to Fond du 
Lac,” Alois insisted. “ Maybe it is seven hun- 
dred miles, if you go into the bays. Fond du 
Lac, that means foot of lake.” 

“And where do you come to if you pass 
Fond du Lac? ” asked Jack. 

“ I don’t know,” Alois answered. “ I guess 
more rivers, more Indians, more lakes, and 
more woods.” 

“ Is that so ! ” exclaimed Jack. “ The 
French must be great travellers ! ” 

“ They are,” Alois assented smiling. 
“Frenchmen go everywhere. Same as In- 
dians.” 


236 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


That evening the lads spread their blankets 
in front of the fireplace, where a gnarly log of 
maple glowed in a friendly manner. The lads 
had no candles, but some dry pine knots fur- 
nished light, by which Frank could read aloud 
from “Eobinson Crusoe,” the only book the 
lads had in camp. They enjoyed the old book 
very much, for there were few things which 
they had not already talked over many times. 
The American boys suffered a touch of home- 
sickness when Frank closed the book as the 
fire had burned low. 

Alois, on the other hand, seemed perfectly 
happy. He had brought home three rabbits, 
already partly turned white. That they might 
have to starve during the winter, that their 
clothing and shoes were almost worn out, and 
that they were marooned in a wild northern 
country, with an Arctic winter near at hand; 
none of these things worried him. For the 
present they had enough to eat and a warm 
place to sleep, and wherever he laid his head 
down he felt at home. 

The next day Alois proposed that they go to 
explore Michipicoten Island. 


MAEOONED ON THE MICHIPICOTEN 237 

‘‘It is very big/’ be said. “Five leagues 
long and three wide, and it stands up high, 
maybe a thousand feet above the lake. 

“ I think,” he added, “ we find caribou there. 
They go on ice in winter, and can’t get off 
when the ice melts.” 

“How can we get there?” asked Frank. 
“We can’t even see it from here. It must be 
forty miles away.” 

“We travel west along shore,” Alois ex- 
plained, “till we come opposite the island; 
Winnebogo tell me it is only ten miles from 
shore. Then we build a raft and paddle over. 
It will be great fun.” 

“ Ten miles on a raft on Lake Superior? ” 
questioned Frank. “Alois, that’s a pretty 
dangerous trip just for fun. You know the 
water in Lake Superior is always like ice 
water. If our raft broke up or a storm caught 
us, we would all drown, as sure as you live, 
Alois.” 

“ Yes, that Lake Superior is pretty beastly 
cold all time,” Alois agreed. “ But it would 
be lots of fun. I think we can do it. We 
start on nice day, and paddle over in four 


238 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 

hours. We get little wet, maybe, but that 
wouldn’t hurt.” 

When they were still discussing this ven- 
turesome trip, Alois and Jack arguing for it 
and Frank against it, they heard a noise up 
the river, and all three sprang to their feet. 

‘‘Indians!” whispered Alois. “I hear 
them talk.” 

The next moment three canoes came in sight 
on the river. As soon as the Indians saw the 
white boys they stopped their canoes and be- 
gan to paddle up-stream in great haste. But 
the white boys held up their hands and Alois 
called in Ottawa, “Come ashore! We are 
friends ! ” 


CHAPTEE XXV 


^ CHIEF OBASHAY 

The Indians, seeing that the white boys had 
no weapons, were soon persuaded to land, but, 
true to their native caution, they lifted their 
canoes ashore on the opposite bank. After 
they had taken some time to look over the 
strangers from a safe distance and convinced 
themselves that no enemies were hidden in the 
woods, three men came across to shake hands 
with the strangers. 

After a while all the Indians, including 
women and children, came across the river, 
and all the men shook hands with the 
strangers. In a surprisingly short time the 
women had set up two tepees, Alois having 
told them that one family might use the tepee 
which the white boys had been occupying. 

While the Indians were unloading their 
239 


240 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


canoes, Alois said to Frank and Jack, They 
are our visitors now, and we must give them 
something to eat.” 

By the time the Indians were settled, Alois, 
with the help of Frank and Jack, had a feast 
ready for their visitors. It worried the Amer- 
ican boys a little to see all of their rabbits go 
into one big kettle and all of their fresh fish 
into another, but to Alois this matter caused 
no uneasiness. 

They are hungry now,” he remarked. 
“And to-morrow we eat with them. But we 
tell them nothing of the Ottawas and nothing 
of Wagooshaw and Fred. We must learn first 
who they are.” 

The Indians had been much pleased when 
they had been told that the white boys were 
going to make a feast for them. Each Indian, 
and there were about fifteen of them, brought 
a birch-bark bowl and a wooden spoon to the 
feast. The warm broth, which Alois gave 
them, they drank out of their bowls, and the 
meat they took in their hands. It was the* 
general custom among Indians to take home 
with them any portions of meat they could not 


CHIEF OBASHAY 


241 


consume at once, but of Alois’s feast nothing 
had to be taken away. 

Obashay, a fine-looking, middle-aged man, 
the chief of the paity, sat to the right of 
Frank, and Frank saw to it that the chief was 
well supplied. 

Jack was afraid that they did not have 
enough food to satisfy the whole party. But 
Alois said it was enough. Moreover, Indians 
had as much sense as white men. Their guests 
knew that they had not been expected, and 
they would be glad to eat whatever the white 
boys had to offer. 

One special treat Alois offered Ms guests. 
He had managed to conceal a small package of 
tea and sugar from the Ottawas. Some of 
these Indians had become acquainted with 
tea and sugar at the Hudson Bay Post of 
Moose Factory on James Bay; and when they 
found that the Little Chief, referring to 
Frank, was going to conclude the feast with a 
big kettleful of sweet tea, the whole company 
was much pleased. They smacked their lips 
and said, Good ! Big heap good ! ” 

Alois learned at the feast that most of these 


24:2 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Indians understood Ottawa, and the next day 
he learned that Chief Obashay was an Ottawa, 
who had married a Muskego woman, and was 
living with the relatives of his wife and was 
respected by them as their chief. 

The Indians were very curious to learn 
where the English boys had come from, but 
good manners forbade them to ask. Alois, 
they took to be the slave of the English boys. 

Obashay understood a little English, and 
Frank told him that the three boys had come 
from Fort Niagara in the company of four 
Ottawas. The ^ .tawas had gone home to 
their own people. He had been afraid to take 
his young brother, Jack, into the Chippewa 
and Ottawa country, and had decided to stay 
on the Michipicoten and wait for the Muske- 
goes to return to their camp. Alois was not 
the slave of the English boys, but was a friend, 
whom the English had taken prisoner at Fort 
Niagara, but had later released. 

Obashay and all the Muskegoes were much 
interested in the news about the war. The 
chief and a few of the men had been to trade 
with the English at Moose Factory, but the 


CHIEF OBASHAY 


243 


news they had was a year old. And so the 
boys had to tell again and again of the big 
fights at Fort Niagara, and of the surrender 
^^i^f^uebec. In air this story telling Alois was 
in his element, talldng in French, Ottawa, or 
English, and told in gestures when his hearers 
failed to understand his words. 

Don’t you tell them any wild lies ! ” Frank 
cautioned him. “ Obashay will tell me if you 
stuff them with that big lie about 10,000 Eng- 
lishmen marching to the Sault.” 

I tell that no more,” Alois promised. 

But when I tell it, I think it was true,” he 
again defended himself. 

You can begin at Fort Niagara and then 
tell that we started for the Sault and came 
with the Ottawas to this place,” Frank con- 
tinued. Everything else I shall tell Obashay 
when the right time comes.” 

Of the friendliness of these Indians the 
boys could not be in doubt. The men took 
them along hunting and fishing, the women 
made moccasins for them and repaired and 
washed their clothing. The boys had recap- 
tured most of their property when they had 


244 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


driven the Ottawas out of camp, and they 
gave to each family a knife, and a small 
quantity of beads. In return each of the lads 
was given a hunting-shirt, made of the tanned 
skin of young caribou. But neither the grown 
people nor the children ever took a thing that 
belonged to the boys. 

Jack could hardly believe that these people 
were real Indians. “ They are more honest,” 
he claimed, ^^than most white people. The 
boys don’t even take a fish-hook. The women 
treat us as if we were old friends, and 
Obashay’s squaw looks after us just like 
Mother did at home.” 

Obashay, especially, had been very friendly 
to the American boys from the first day. He 
often came to the boys’ cabin in the evening 
and had the lads tell him of the war and of 
the Indians and white people on the frontier, 
west of the Alleghanies. The boys, on the 
other hand, were always glad to have Obashay 
tell of his journeys to Moose Factory down 
the turbulent Missinaibi Eiver, and how he 
had hunted moose and caribou and had caught 
beavers. 


CHIEF OBASHAY 


246 


Through, these visits the American boys 
learned much about the Ke and customs of the 
Indians and also heard of many of their 
strange superstitions, such as their belief in 
dreams and witchcraft. On these matters, 
Alois had earnestly cautioned his friends. 

You must never,” he said, laugh at any- 
thing an Indian tells you. If you do, he will 
be offended and never tell you anything again. 
If he tells you things, he is your friend ; but if 
you laugh at him, he will be yoiir friend no 
more.” 

One evening, after the boys had been living 
with the Indians about two weeks, Obashay, 
carrying a large bundle, came again to the 
cabin. 

For a while he sat down in front of the 
fireplace and smoked in silence, then he began 
to talk in a very earnest manner. 

Last summer,” he said, “ I went all alone 
to a place on the river Missinaibi. I fasted for 
a week, and then the Great Spirit came to me 
in my dream and told me that I would meet 
two young Englishmen with red cheeks and 
fair hair. He told me they would be good 


246 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Englislimen, that I would like them very 
much, and I would i dopt them as my sous. 

I hope,” he concluded, “ that you will be 
willing to be my sons, and that you will ac- 
cept the presents I have brought for you.” 

Then he unrolled the bundle he had brought, 
and gave each of the American boys a fine 
blanket, woven of strips of rabbit skin, a pair 
of moccasins and leggins and a warm coat of 
tanned beaver skins, 

“ You will need these,” he added, when the 
winter grows cold.” 

Frank had by this time learned enough 
Ottawa to understand what Obashay meant. 
And although he was much surprised at the 
request of the chief, his many experiences of 
acting quick in emergencies came to his aid. 

He arose and told Obashay that he and his 
brother felt very much honored by the words 
the chief had spoken and that they would be 
happy to be his sons. 

‘‘We cannot give our father,” he continued, 
“ a great present, because we are far from our 
home, and we have lost some of our goods. 
But we shall , be very glad if he will accept 


CHIEF OBASHAY 


247 


this hunting-knife for himself and this red 
cloth for his wife and daughters.” 

Then Frank and Jack both shook hands 
with the chief, and from now on all the In- 
dians at the Michipicoten considered them 
members of Obashay’s family. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


A WINTER HUNT 

A FEW days after Frank and Jack had been 
adopted by Obashay, the chief told them that 
they should prepare to go with him and his 
two sons, Abtekoo and Bowitigo, on a long 
hunt. 

Your mother,” the chief told them, and 
the two little girls will stay in this camp, be- 
cause it would be too hard for them to travel 
with us after bear and beaver and caribou. 
Esquasayway is a good wonmu. She does not 
spend her time gossiping, and she does not 
talk evil of the other women, and never quar- 
rels with them. She is a good mother to her 
children. She teaches them what is right and 
wrong, and she makes warm clothing for them, 
so they do not freeze and sicken during the 
long winter. 

You and my other two sons will go on a 
long hunt with me. Several other men will 
248 


A WINTEE HUNT 


249 


go vnth us, but the old men and the women 
and children will remain in this camp. 

I will teach my white sons to catch ahmik 
who grows fat on bark; and negeek, who 
makes a strange wide trad on the snow. And 
Manitou may send ahtik from the north, and 
you will follow him far over the hills. 

We must hunt diligently, so we can make 
a good trade with the English at Hudson Bay 
or with the French at the Sault.” 

According to Indian custom, Frank and 
Jack should have lived in the tepee with 
Obashay, but Obashay’s tepee could not house 
more than the six members of his Indian 
family, and for that reason the two American 
boys continued to live with Alois in the 
trader’s room. 

Both Jack and Frank were glad that 
Obashay wanted them to go along on a winter 
hunt. Jack, especially, had grown tired of 
fishing and of hunting small game around the 
camp. Alois had persuaded them that it 
would be useless and foolhardy to look for 
Fred in the Ottawa country in winter. 

might freeze or starve to death,” he 


250 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Fad explained. When the snow is deep, we 
can only travel on snow-shoes, and an Indian 
could easily follow us, and he would travel 
faster than we could go.” 

There was one thing that made both Frank 
and Jack unhappy. Obashay had not invited 
Alois to go on the long hunt. 

^^We can’t go away,” said Jack, when all 
the hunters were getting ready, “and leave 
Alois here with the women and the old men. 
Frank, you must ask Obashay to take Alois 
along, too.” 

“ I don’t know,” replied Frank, “ if it would 
be proper to ask him. It might offend him.” 

“ He is our father now,” Jack replied, “ so 
he should not be offended if we ask a little 
favor of him.” 

That evening Obashay again visited with 
his white sons in the log tepee, and when Oba- 
shay was comfortably seated before a warm 
fire of birch logs, Frank gathered up courage 
to put Alois’s case before the chief. 

“ My father,” he began, “ we are very glad 
that we can go along on a big hunt. But our 
hearts are sad, because we have to leave our 


A WINTER HUNT 


251 


Frencli brother behind. He has been a good 
brother to us and has shown us the trail from 
the Big French Stone House at Niagara to 
Lake Teyoyagon, which his people call Lake 
Aux Claies.” 

After a brief silence Obashay replied : The 
Little Frenchman is a good brother to my 
sons. He is a good hunter of wahboos and 
spruce-birds and he gave my people food when 
we were all hungry and tired. I could not 
make him my son, because the Great Spirit 
did not show me a Frenchman in my dreams, 
but only two Englishmen. But he shall go 
with his brothers, and I will teach him to 
catch beavers and to hunt caribou, and he 
shall sleep in my tepee. 

When Alois returned from his visit to one 
of the Indian lodges and learned that he was 
to join the hunting-party he was very happy. 
He thanked Obashay, dnd promised that he 
would be a good hunter and obey Obashay as 
his chief and father. 

When the hunters left camp, the small lakes 
were beginning to freeze over and there was 
a little snow on the ground. 


252 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


The hunters took food for a few days, and 
each man carried a pair of snow-shoes, his 
blankets and gun and a pair of extra mocca- 
sins and leggins. Some of the Indians also 
carried bows and arrows, and the boys took 
along a large axe, and a few steel traps from 
the trader’s cabin. 

After a march of two days, they camped for 
the night near the head of a small stream at 
the head waters of the Michipicoten. 

Obashay told his men that this was a good 
beaver country. The Indians had not hunted 
here for several years and it was now the right 
time to catch beavers in the Indian way before 
the ice grew too thick. 

The next day Obashay asked his men to put 
up two warm tepees, one for himself and his 
sons and one for the four Indian hunters. 

Put them up well,” he said, like the te- 
pees of the Ottawas and Chippewas, not like 
the brush tepees of the Muskegoes, in which 
the hunters are cold and get wet. We have 
enough of caribou skins for two tepees. Then 
cut plenty of brush for our beds, and some 
dry wood for our fires. We left the women 


A WmTEK HUOT 253 

at home, and now we must be our own 
squaws. 

“If we bad come here in smiimer, we could 
have built warm bark houses like those of the 
Chippewas, but now the bark does not peel, 
and we must live in tepees. 

“ You must also build a good brush house, 
where we can keep our meat and skins and 
other things, so the snow will not cover them 
up. 

“ I shall go and learn where the beaver peo- 
ple are, and when I return, we shall begin to 
hunt them, for we have not much meat in 
camp and we need skins to sell to the traders.’’ 

The white boys took turns cutting spruce 
tepee poles with their big axe. The Indians 
put up the poles and covered them with sldns. 
When they had enough tepee poles, the lads 
cut brush and poles and forked sticks for the 
brush house, and, when that was done, they 
cut a lot of firewood. 

When Ahtekoo saw how hard the white boys 
worked cutting dry wood, he smiled and 
said: 

^^That is good wood in the tepee, but it 


254 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


burns too fast outside under tbe kettles, but 
green birch, and green spruce and pine,” he 
added, is good wood for outside and burns 
plenty fast.” 

When the tepees and the brush house were 
built, the Indians went to fill their kettles at 
a near-by brook. In front of each tepee they 
hung a kettle on a tripod of poles and began 
to boil some rabbits they had caught in snares 
the night before. 

Jack had thought that Ahtekoo and Bowi- 
tigo would not eat till their father had re- 
turned, but each of the two lads helped him- 
self to a big piece of rabbit as soon as the 
meat was done, and they told Frank and J ack 
to eat. 

When the sun disappeared behind the rocky 
hills and distant groves of pines. Jack became 
very uneasy and expressed his fear that Oba- 
shay was lost. 

But the Indian lads seemed not at all 
worried. Obashay has hunted on the 
Michipicoten and the Missinaibi many years,” 
Bowitigo told his white brothers, ever since 
Ahtekoo and I were little boys. He knows the 


A WINTEE HUNT 


255 


faces of all tlie Mils, the course of the streams, 
and the shape of the lakes. He will not get 
lost.” 

When an hour passed and Obashay had not 
returned Jack could no longer suppress his 
anxiety. 

“We should go and look for him,” he said 
to Frank, “ if we only knew where to go. He 
must be starving, too, for I know that he took 
no food and no kettle.” 

“Our brothers need not worry,” Ahtekoo 
took the word. “ Obashay will catch him a 
rabbit, or a spruce-bird or a young porcupine ; 
or he will eat when he returns to camp. Oba- 
shay is a strong man, he will not starve ; and 
travelling is easy, because the snow is not 
deep.” 

“ But I am afraid that our father will freeze 
to death,” Jack replied. “ The night is going 
to be cold. I wish he were home ! ” 

“ Obashay carries a warm blanket,” Ahte- 
koo answered. “He will make a shelter, so 
the wind cannot find him. He will build a 
fire and sleep near the fire till morning.” 

“But the wolves and the bears will eat 


256 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 

him ! ” cried Jack. “ A bear tried to eat me 
on our way to Niagara.” 

Ahtekoo and Bowitigo both laughed good- 
naturedly. Little Brother, the bears are 
asleep now,” said Bowitigo, and the wolves 
will be much afraid of Obashay’s fire.” 

For several hours the five boys kept the 
camp-fire burning; but Obashay did not re- 
turn. When midnight drew near, even Frank 
became uneasy and wished that he had gone 
with Obashay. He was not afraid that the 
hunter had lost his way or that the wolves 
would eat him ; but he might have met an acci- 
dent in travelling over the rough country. 
However, Obashay’s sons and the other In- 
dians were so unconcerned about their leader 
that Frank did not express his fears. 

But Jack could not go to sleep for a long 
time. He tossed about, and listened to every 
sound. Now the wind broke down a dead 
tree, and J ack sat up to listen. Then he heard 
a thump, thump ” on the ground. 

Listen, brothers ! ” Jack whispered. I 
hear somebody walking.” 

It is wahboos,” said Bowitigo. He 


A WINTER HUNT 


257 


makes a big noise when be strikes the earth 
with his feet. We shall catch him in a snare 
before morning.” 

“We ought to get up and yell,” persisted 
Jack, “ or fire our guns. Obashay cannot fol- 
low the trail on this dark night.” 

“Oh, keep still. Jack, and go to sleep!” 
Frank said sharply. “ Don^t be a baby I ” 

The Indian boys had not understood the 
English words of their white brothers, but 
they both laughed and said in Ottawa : 

“ Obashay is all right. He is asleep before 
a warm fire. He will come home to-morrow.” 


CHAPTER xxyn 


AHMIK AND KOOKOOKUHOO 

The campers were astir early in the morn- 
ing. Several rabbits had been caught during 
the night, and a little way down the wind were 
found the tracks of several large wolves, who 
had circled all around the camp. 

IS'aturally all were looking forward to the 
return of Obashay, but none so eagerly as 
Frank and Jack. The two white boys learned 
now that Obashay had probably not intended 
to return in one day. 

He not come home after two more sleeps,’’ 
said the leader of the other hunting party; 

maybe we go and hunt him little bit. Maybe 
he catch many ahmiks and walk slow.” 

Say, Frank,” Jack exploded when he 
heard this talk, did you hear that? After 
two more sleeps, when Obashay has caught so 
many ahmiks that he can’t carry them all, 
maybe they will go and hunt him little bit. 
Frank, I should like to lick the whole bunch. 

258 


AHMIK AlTD KOOKOOKUHOO 259 


We had better not get lost. We should be 
dead before one of these lazy bucks went to 
look for us.” 

Ahtekoo and Bowitigo were as little worried 
as the other Indians. They told that Obashay 
generally went exploring by himself, because 
he walked so fast that no one could keep up 
with him, and that he often stayed away two 
or three days. 

The forenoon passed, and the Indians 
cooked the rabbits they had caught and set the 
snares for the night. The sun stood again low 
behind the pine hills, and Obashay had not re- 
tur’ied. 

The white boys had started to cut wood for 
the night, when they heard a shout up the 
trail. Jack dropped his axe and ran up the 
trail, and after a few minutes Obashay walked 
into camp carrying on his shoulders a big 
lynx, whose nose almost touched the ground. 

After Obashay had put on dry moccasins 
and leggins, he sat down near the fire and be- 
gan to eat, and the way he ate showed plainly 
that this was his first meal since he had left 


camp. 


260 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


When he had finished his meal, he began to 
talk. 

He had travelled many miles and visited 
many lakes and streams. The ahmik people 
had built many dams and houses, and he had 
also seen tracks of ahtik, which the boys took 
to mean caribou. He had shot the big peeshov 
as the animal tried to catch a wahboos under 
a fallen tree. To-morrow they would start 
hunting ahmik, because the ice was now thick 
enough so the hunters could travel over his 
ponds. 

The next morning they started early with- 
out taking time to eat breakfast. After they 
had travelled an hour, they saw, at some dis- 
tance, a clearing, where a good many trees had 
been cut down, perhaps a hundred or more. 
Of some they could see the stumps, of others 
the tops lay on the ground, and a few 
had become ^^hung’’ in the tops of other 
trees. 

When Frank and Jack, who had been al- 
lowed to lead on the trail, saw this clearing, 
they stopped and waited for Obashay. 

^^My father,’^ said Jack, there are some In: 


AHMIK AND KOOKOOKUHOO 261 


dians camping on the trail a little way ahead. 
We saw a place where many trees are cut 
down, the same as near our big camp on the 
Michipicoten.” 

Obashay’s face looked serious as he took the 
lead and cautiously followed the trail. Was 
it possible that other Indians were going to 
hunt in this region? When he came in sight 
of the clearing, a smile passed over his face as 
he turned to Jack and said: 

My son, that is not an Indian camp. It is 
a place where the ahmik people have cut their 
food for the winter.” 

Frank and Jack could hardly believe that 
animals not larger than beavers could have cut 
down so many trees if the stumps had not all 
plainly shown the tooth marks of the animals. 
White chips, as long as a man’s finger, lay in 
piles and rings around the stumps. Some of 
the trees, all poplars, were a foot or more in 
diameter, but most of them were smaller. 
Most of the branches and small trunks had 
been carried or dragged away ; and a few trees, 
cut only half through, were still standing. 
Obashay pointed to these and said : 


262 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Peeshov or negeek scared them away.” 

Several deep paths, like furrows, led to a 
small pond close by. At the lower end of this 
pond, the water ran out from under the ice and 
fell into another pond, a little larger. But 
neither on this nor on a third pond did the 
hunter find any lodge or house. But on the 
fourth pond, which was very large, they dis- 
covered a large house, in shape like a muskrat 
house, but three or four times as large. 

The Indians now all stopped and Obashay 
told his men to open the ahmik house. 

With Frank’s big axe and with several 
small axes and poles, the roof was soon 
broken, and there appeared a large cavity, the 
bottom of which consisted of wet poles and 
was covered with a few chips and a few weeds 
and rubbish. 

^^Oh, they are all gone!” cried Jack. 

How can we catch them? Shall we set our 
traps ^n the fioor? ” 

I 0 , my son,” Obashay told the excited 
boy, ^^the ahmik people never stay when the 
hunters break into their lodges. We must 
now go and find them.” 


AHMIK AJSTD KOOKOOKUHOO 263 


The Indians now scattered along the mar- 
gin of the pond, where with poles and axes 
they tested the ice. Soon Ahtekoo and Bowi- 
tigo had found a wash, or burrow, in the bank ; 
but when Obashay looked at the place, he 
shook his head and said : No good, my sons. 
The ahmik people are not there.” 

By this time the other hunters had found 
another wash. When Obashay looked at this, 
and noticed the muddy water at the entrance, 
and saw a few bubbles rising from the water, 
he cried, Ahmik is in there ! ” 

The young men now quickly cleared away 
the ice and opened the burrow as far as they 
could. Then Ahtekoo lay down and reached 
into the burrow, and before the white boys 
realized what Ahtekoo was trying to do, he 
pulled a big beaver out of the burrow, and 
without getting up he brought out two more. 

After Ahtekoo had opened the burrow a lit- 
tle farther, Frank was going to try his luck, 
but Obashay would not let him. 

No, my son,” he warned, ahmik will bite 
you. Let Ahtekoo pull him out. His arms are 
long and he knows how to take hold of ahmik.” 


264 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


In a short time the young Indian had 
brought out three more. 

That is enough,” said Obashay. Now we 
must go home to prepare the sldns and take 
care of the meat before the sun goes away.” 

The beavers weighed from thirty to fifty 
pounds each and were all very fat. 

When the hunters arrived at the camp, 
some more hard work had to be done before 
the hungry men could eat. The beavers had 
to be skinned, and skinning a beaver is differ- 
ent from skinning a rabbit. The beaver skin 
does not pull off easily, it has to be cut off with 
great care, but the Indians did the work very 
quickly. After the skins were off, they had to 
be scraped clean of every bit of fat, and when 
that was done they were stretched on large 
hoops and hung up in the brush house to 
dry. 

The work of a trapper is by no means all 
fun. It is the hardest kind of work, much 
harder than farming, and much of it not very 
pleasant. Often the game has to be carried 
many miles to the nearest camp. Small ani- 
mals, like mink and martens, are generally 


AHMIK AND KOOKOOKTJHOO 265 


frozen stiff and have to be thawed out before 
they can be skinned. 

When at last the work was done, the 
hungry hunters were ready for their meal, the 
only one for the day. Every man had beaver 
meat boiled and roasted, broiled and fried, 
just as he liked it. The Indians considered 
the fat tails a great delicacy, and the white 
boys soon learned to like this part of the game. 
The meat was very fat, but men who work and 
march in cold weather like fat meat, and the 
rabbits, on which the hunters had lived thus 
far, are always lean. To the white boys beaver 
meat tasted a little like chicken, but all 
agreed that it was very much better than 
rabbit. 

This was the first time that Frank and Jack 
had seen a beaver close by and they were most 
curious about its fiat tail and its big sharp 
teeth. 

How does the beaver use his queer tail? ” 
Jack wanted to know. 

^^He steers himself right and left and up 
and down,” Obashay told them, and he slaps 
the water when he gets scared, and in that 


266 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


way he tells all the other beavers to look out 
for some enemy.” 

“ But why is it scaly, almost like a fish, and 
without hair?” asked Jack. 

The tail is ahmik’s paddle,” said the chief ; 
he doesn’t need fur on his paddle.” 

Then Jack took up the skull of a beaver that 
had been boiled and cleaned of all meat. The 
skull showed four brown front teeth, almost 
as sharp as knives. In shape and setting they 
resembled the teeth of squirrels and gophers, 
but they were very much larger; and when 
Jack pulled one of them out, he was aston- 
ished to find it as long as a man’s finger, and 
curved like a small horn. 

Look ! ” he cried. “ It went clear back to 
his ears. Frank, it must hurt awfully to have 
the toothache in a tooth like that ! ” 

How does he keep them sharp,” he asked 
Obashay, “ when he uses them for cutting up 
trees and branches? ” 

The teeth grow all the time,” the Indian 
explained. They wear down in back, but in 
front they keep as sharp as knives, and ahmik 
can cut big chips with them.” 


AHMIK AND KOOKOOKUHOO 267 


Tlie white boys had been so much interested 
in their first beaver hunt, that they forgot 
that they were tired; and Obashay answered 
all their questions as patiently and seriously 
as their own father might have done in front 
of the fireplace in the cabin on the Cone- 
wango. 

The Indian hunters had all retired into 
their tepees, when Obashay with his white 
sons still sat around the camp-fire and told 
them tales of the forest and of hunting, and 
answered their questions, many of which must 
have sounded foolish to the red hunter. 

A big owl, attracted by the red glow of the 
camp-fire, uttered his wild guttural hoot close 

by- 

“ My sons,’’ said Obashay, “ there calls koo- 
kookuhoo. He is looking for the white wah- 
boos, and he tells us to seek our blankets. It 
is time to sleep. To-morrow we look for an- 
other lodge of ahmik and we shall try to find 
the trail of negeek, who catches the fish of 
ahmik’s pond, and eats his children, if he can 
catch them.” 


CHAPTER XXVm 


THE TEAHi OF NEGEEK 

i^EXT morning tlie boys saw more of Indian 
ways. On the previous day, the hunters had 
not eaten until they had returned to camp in 
the evening and had stretched and scraped all 
their beaver skins. To-day they would not 
start without first eating. 

Obashay said this was not a good way to 
prepare for travel; but there were three fat 
beavers left hung up in the tree, and the hunt- 
ers refused to start till they had picked clean 
the bones of two of them. 

When they finally did march, Obashay led 
the way on a rough and long trail; and the 
young men, who had eaten a heavy meal, found 
it hard work to keep up with the long stride of 
the big chief. 

About noon they came to a lake, on the 
margin of which there was a very large beaver 
house, but Obashay would not let the hunters 
open this house. 


268 


THE TKAIL OF HEGEEK 


269 


The ahmik people,” lie told Ms men, are 
not living in this house. They live a way back 
in the bank, and it would take too much work 
to dig them out. Go and look for ponds, wMch 
they have made behind their own dams.” 

The hunters scattered, Frank and Alois go- 
ing with Ahtekoo and Bowitigo, while Jack 
said he was going to explore the other side of 
the lake, where he could see a beaver clearing, 
a place where the animals had cut many trees. 
Obashay said he would stay near the big 
beaver house on shore, and pray to Manitou to 
let him find plenty of game and fur on their 
winter hunt. 

As Jack was crossing the lake, carefully 
testing the ice with a stout pole, he came upon 
a strange trail. It looked as if a man had 
dragged some heavy animal, the size of a 
beaver, over the soft snow; but strange to say, 
no footsteps of the hunter were visible. 

Jack followed the winding trail for a quar- 
ter of a mile, where it disappeared in a hole in 
the ice. But on the other side of the hole it 
came out again. The young hunter, much 
puzzled as to the kind of trail he had discov- 


270 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


ered, followed it toward tlie beaver clearing. 
Here be found a beaver lodge surrounded 
partly by very tbin ice and partly by open 
water, and Jack bad a narrow escape from 
breaking through the ice. The strange trail 
disappeared into the water, but came out 
again and crossed the beaver lodge, and then 
led away into the woods. 

It is the trail of a ghost hunter,” thought 
Jack. “The spirit of a dead Indian hunter has 
caught a beaver and dragged it over the ice.” 

Jack had heard so many tales of Indian 
superstition, and had seen the Indians leave 
tobacco and food on several graves, that he had 
come more than half to believe the tales about 
the spirits of dead hunters. 

In the afternoon the Indians and white boys 
returned to Obashay^s camp. The party had 
not found any beavers, and Obashay told 
them they had had bad luck because they had 
started after eating a big meal. 

Ahtekoo’s party had caught four beavers, 
and the boys were very proud of their success. 
But Alois had his right arm bandaged and 
tied up in a sling. 


THE TKAIL OF HEGEEK 271 

Tlie Little Frenchman tried to catch ah- 
mik like an Indian/’ Bowitigo told. But he 
was too slow and was afraid, and ahmik bites 
every hunter who is afraid.” 

The Indians all laughed at Alois’s bad luck. 
Ahtekoo had taken some bark and roots out of 
his medicine-bag, chewed them into a pulp, 
and placed this on the badly bleeding wound, 
and had bandaged the arm with a piece of 
caribou skin. 

Little Frenchman all right pretty soon,” 
he had said. Ho scared, he catch ahmik like 
Indian.” 

When J ack told about the ghost trail he had 
followed, Frank rebuked him sharply, saying : 

Jack, you are turning Indian. If you be- 
lieve all these ghost tales, I am going to leave 
you here in the woods. Mother would not 
want any heathen Indian in the house.” 

But Obashay did not laugh or scoff at Jack’s 
story. 

My son,” he said, Manitou has heard my 
prayer. You have found a good trail. It is 
the trail of negeek. My hunters cannot catch 
negeek as they catch ahmik, because negeek 


2T2 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


is a great traveller, and we do not know wkere 
to find him. Sometimes he sleeps in an old 
house of ahmik, sometimes he drives wah- 
shushk out of his house of mud and rushes, 
and sometimes he sleeps in his own burrow in 
the river bank. 

But we will go and set a white man’s trap 
for him and we shall bait it with beaver meat 
I have brought in my bag, and it may be we 
shall catch negeek before morning.” 

Then Obashay went with Jack and helped 
him set the trap near one of the holes of the 
otter. He rubbed beaver fat on the trap and 
chain, put out several pieces of bait, and had 
Jack brush loose snow over the trap. 

As the weather was mild, the hunters did 
not return to their camp for the night. The 
chief had told them that each man should take 
a blanket, and when night came, they sought 
a sheltered place in the forest, where they 
were surrounded by a thicket of young 
spruce and balsam firs. Here they built a 
fire and lay down to sleep under a lean-to of 
boughs. 

About midnight Frank awoke. 


THE TKAIL OF HEGEEK 


273 


Tlie birch, logs were still giving out a warm 
silent glow. Tiny sparkling crystals were 
dropping upon the camp-fire, thousands of 
them. As the lad became fully awake, his ears 
caught a low whispering sound in the spruces 
and firs. It was the still small voice of the 
snowflakes sifting through the green boughs. 
Mother nature was covering up the flowers 
and little trees of the Great Wild North for 
their long winter sleep. The wind had died 
down, and wahboos and the big kookookuhoos 
and the gray wolves were all asleep. 

But the boy lay wide awake, listening to the 
still small voice of the snowflakes. And the 
problems and troubles which he had almost 
forgotten for a few days rose up before him 
like ghosts. 

Where was his brother, for whose rescue the 
three lads had undertaken the long journey? 
Had they not lost heart at the dangers of the 
venture, and were now thinking too much of 
their own safety? Perhaps Fred was no 
longer alive? Of the hundreds of white cap- 
tives, taken by the savages during this war, 
many had lost their lives through some whim 


274 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


of their captors. Would it not have been 
wiser to push at once into the Ottawa coun- 
try, regardless of personal danger? Where 
was Wagooshaw? Could they expect to find 
him next summer? The Ottawa and Chip- 
pewa warriors roamed over half a continent 
from Quebec and Montreal to Lake Superior. 
And how could he explain everything to Oba- 
shay and the Muskegoes, who had treated them 
with so much kindness? 

Would Obashay be willing to give them any 
aid? He might not even be willing to let them 
go and to lend them a canoe. Supposing he 
turned enemy when he heard the story of 
Fred and how they had driven the Ottawas 
out of camp? Obashay was an Ottawa. 
Would he be willing to incur the hatred of his 
own people for freeing a strange white boy, 
whom he had never seen? 

For an hour the young man lay awake, 
wrestling with these ghosts of the night. 

Only one clear thought came to him from all 
the confusions of doubts and problems: He 
must talk to Obashay. 


CHAPTER XXIX 


BOCK TBIPE 

In the morning it was found that the otter 
had in some way sprung the trap, but had not 
been caught. 

A few hours later two of the hunters re- 
turned to camp and reported that they had 
seen a band of caribou far off, going in a 
northeasterly direction. All the hunters at 
once prepared to follow this band, for both 
Indians and white men prefer the rich meat 
of fat caribou to rabbit and beaver. 

The hunters divided into three parties. Oba- 
shay and his Indian sons, being considered the 
best hunters, were to follow directly on the 
trail, the other Indian hunters were to travel 
between a mile and half a mile farther south, 
and the three white boys were to strike out 
north of the trail. By this method it was 
thought most likely that at least one of the 
parties would secure some of the animals. As 
276 


276 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


the wind was from the northeast, there was no 
danger that the caribou would get the scent 
of the hunters, and it would be easy to follow 
them silently over the fresh snow. 

You must all take your blankets and food 
for two days,’^ Obashay told the hunters, for 
ahtik travels many leagues between sleeps, 
and many good Muskego hunters have brought 
no game to their camp, because they had taken 
no food, and could not follow ahtik over many 
hills and lakes. 

And you must not lose your way and must 
not let ahtik see you. For if ahtik sees the 
hunter, he will run to a country where we 
have never been, but if he does not see us, we 
may bring home much good meat.’’ 

It took several hours before the hunters 
struck the trail, and separated into three 
parties. 

When you hear our guns,” said Obashay, 
as they separated, ^^you should turn toward 
the trail, and look sharp for ahtik running 
among the trees. But you must not shoot at 
any other game.” 

For several hours the white boys travelled 


ROCK TRIPE 


27Y 


straight against the wind, without seeing 
either caribou or signs of Obashay^s party. 

Let us turn a little farther to the right,” 
suggested Frank, or we may become too far 
separated from our friends.” 

Again they travelled for hours without see- 
ing anything but an endless wilderness of 
rocky hills, lakes and forests. When they had 
crossed a large lake, it was growing dark, and 
they began to look for a good place to camp. 

In a spot where a small brook fell into the 
lake, they built a shelter and made camp. 
Frank and Jack cut and gathered wood, while 
Alois boiled a kettleful of beaver meat and 
made a bed of green boughs. 

In the morning they started like true In- 
dian hunters without eating, and about noon 
they caught sight of Obashay half a mile to 
their right. He motioned them to keep off a 
little farther and then disappeared into a 
growth of tall jack-pines. 

On the evening of the third day, the wind 
had grown very strong. They had travelled 
fast all day and had held well to their right 
as they thought, but they were somewhat 


278 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


alarmed, because all day they bad not caugbt 
sight of Obashay. 

When they made camp they discovered that 
Jack had lost the only remaining piece of 
meat. So they drank some hot water to give 
them warmth and rolled up in their wahboos 
blankets before the fire, thinking that they 
would surely find Obashay in the morning. 

But when daylight came the wind had 
grown into a raging snow-storm, against 
which it was impossible to travel. 

They cut some more wood for the fire, and 
again rolled up in their blankets. The wind 
would soon die down, they thought, and Oba- 
shay would come to look for them. 

But hour after hour passed. The violence 
of the storm increased, Obashay did not ap- 
pear and all three of them were tormented by 
a raving hunger. 

“ I run up to bare hill,” said Alois, maybe 
I find some ^ tripe de roche/ Or maybe we 
all starve to death. I think we go wrong 
way.” 

When Alois returned he had his game bag 
filled with a black lichen, one of the kinds of 


EOCK TEIPE 279 

tlie so-called reindeer moss which is the prin- 
cipal food of the barren-grounds caribou. 

After Alois had boiled this rock tripe a long 
time, it turned into a jelly-like substance and 
Alois said, ^^Now we eat like Muskego In- 
dians, when they have no meat.” 

^^Brr!” exclaimed Jack, ^^that stuff is bit- 
ter.” 

^^Yes, it is little bitter,” admitted Alois. 
“ But it is good food. You eat him, or you go 
die.” 

For three days the lads were storm-bound. 
Jack and Frank kept the fire going, and once 
a day Alois gathered and cooked a meal of 
rock tripe. This food, although it was bitter, 
kept the starving lads alive, but they could eat 
only a little of it, and always felt hungry. 

On the fourth day the sun came out, and 
the lads realized to their horror that on the 
day they came to this camp, they had been 
travelling first straight north and then north- 
west. 

What should they do now? Should they 
strike out south for Lake Superior, or should 
they stay in camp and wait for Obashay? 


280 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Frank decided that they should wait, at 
least, one day for their father to find them, for 
all three of them were very weak, and he was 
afraid that they might not be able to find 
either one of their camps. 

About noon the following day, when Alois 
was again boiling a kettleful of rock tripe, 
while Frank and Jack were asleep, Alois 
heard footsteps on the frozen snow. He 
sprang to his feet and cried in French : 
^^Yoila! Voila! Our father has come!” 
Then he ran and kissed the tall hunter, who 
laid down a load of meat near the fire. 

“ I throw away the black ^ tripe de roche/ ” 
declared Alois. ^^It is little bitter. I broil 
some caribou meat.” 

Obashay saw to it that the starving boys did 
not eat too much. 

^^When the sun goes down,” he told the 
boys, “we shall make a feast, but now you 
must eat only a little or you will get sick and 
will not be able to travel.” 

Obashay and his sons had killed five caribou 
on the day that the boys had turned north; 
and the Indian hunters were now on their 


EOCK TEIPE 281 

way with loads of meat to the camp on the 
Michipicoten. 

Our women and children/’ said Obashay, 
^‘will grow thin if they have nothing to eat 
but wahboos and the fish of the big lake, but 
now we have plenty of meat for many days. 
Namegons, the big trout, and adekawmeg, the 
whitefish, are good food, but it is cold work 
for the women and old men to catch them 
through the ice.” 

The lads were deeply touched by the kind- 
ness of Obashay ; and they wondered much at 
his ability to find them. 

He said that Manitou had told him in a 
dream that his white sons would go the wrong 
way when the wind changed, and that from a 
high hill he had seen the smoke of their fire. 

When all had eaten a big meal of delicious 
caribou meat and, wrapped in their warm rab- 
bit blankets, were sitting around the fire, 
Prank plucked up courage to unburden his 
mind to Obashay. 

^^My father,” he began, ^^you and Esquasay- 
way and all your men have shown us much 
friendship since you made us your sons. 


282 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


But wlien we follow aMik and ahmik, my 
heart is often heavy, because my thoughts fly 
far away. 

Jack and I are your sons, and our father 
brings us food when we are lost and hungry, 
and Esquasayway gave us warm blankets that 
we may not be cold. But we have a little 
brother, who was carried away by the Ottawa 
warrior Wagooshaw, and we do not know if 
he is still alive and where he is.’^ 

Then Frank related briefly how the three 
lads had followed the trail of Wagooshaw, 
how they had been captured by the war-party 
of Winnebogo and how they had forced him 
and his men to leave. 

When Frank began to tell of Winnebogo’s 
departure, Obashay’s face darkened as if with 
fear or anger. 

Did my sons,’’ he asked, shed the blood 
of an Ottawa? ” 

When Frank told him truthfully everything 
that had happened on that occasion, Obashay 
looked pleased and replied : 

It is good that the Little Frenchman did 
not shoot straight. Now Winnebogo cannot 


EOCK TEIPE 283 

say that he must kill you for the blood of his 
man.” 

Then Obashay began to laugh and said: 
“ The Ottawa and Chippewa warriors will 
laugh much when they hear that my sons have 
made Winnebogo and his bragging young 
men walk to the canoe and paddle away with- 
out their guns. But Winnebogo and his brag- 
ging young men will never tell them. They 
will tell big lies, yes, many big lies. And as 
soon as they have bought new guns, they will 
leave for Detroit to fight for the French, so 
the young men may return as warriors with 
scalps or prisoners. 

‘^Wagooshaw and Winnebogo are bad In- 
dians,” he continued after a brief silence. 

They do not obey the Blackcoat Father, who 
lives among the Ottawas, and tells them of 
the white man’s God. And now they have 
gone and made war on the English, who have 
never come to their country.” 

^^What does the Blackcoat teach the Ot- 
tawas?” asked Jack. 

‘^He teaches them many things. He tells 
them to stay in their country in summer and 


284 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


plant more corn, so their women and children 
will not go hungry in winter. He tells them 
not to drink the white man^s crazy water, and 
he tells them the ten laws of his God.’^ 

^^The Ten Commandments?” Jack asked. 
‘^Our mother taught them to Frank and me 
when we were little boys.” 

^‘The Ottawas and Chippewas have more 
than ten laws,” replied Obashay. My father 
taught me twice as many, and our old men 
taught them to the children long before a 
white man came to our country. But the 
white men do not even keep ten laws. There 
are many bad white men.” 

My father,” asked Frank, ‘‘ will you teach 
us some of the laws of the Ottawas and Chip- 
pewas? ” 

When Obashay saw the earnest faces of the 
three white boys turned up to him, a smile 
passed over his grave storm-beaten fea- 
tures. 

It is right,” he began, that I should this 
night teach my white sons some of the laws 
which Manitou taught our fathers many 
winters ago ; for Manitou has heard my prayer 


ROCK TRIPE 


285 


and lias led me to my sons, wlio were hungry 
and lost in the storm.” 

Obashay paused, but soon began once more, 
speaking in a low voice : “ These are some of 
the laws my father taught me, when I was a 
little boy and lived with my parents in a tepee 
on Lake Mpissing. It is a long time ago. 

‘ Look up to the skies often, by day and 
night ; and see the sun, moon, and stars ; and 
think that the Great Sj :it is looking upon 
thee always. 

^^^Thou shalt not mimic or laugh at the 
cripple or the lame ; for thou shalt be crippled, 
if thou shouldst provoke the Great Spirit. 

‘ Thou shalt not answer back if thy father 
or thy mother or any aged person reproves 
thee for thy wrong. 

^ Thou shalt never tell a lie to thy parents 
or thy neighbors. 

^ Thou (ohalt not steal from thy neighbor, 
nor covet anything that is his. 

^ Thou shalt always feed the hungry and 
the stranger. 

^^^Thou shalt not commit murder while 
thou art in dispute with thy neighbor. 


286 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


‘ Thou shalt honor thy father and thy 
mother, that thy days may be long upon the 
land. 

^‘<Thou shalt honor the gray-haired per- 
sons, that thy head may be like unto theirs.’ ” 

Obashay stopped and gazed into the fire. 

“My father,” requested Frank, “teach us 
more of the laws of the Ottawas. We have 
plenty of green logs of the pine and birch for 
the fire, and our eye are not sleepy.” 

“ I will teach my sons some laws,” Obashay 
resumed, “which the Blackcoat Fathers do 
not know, and which the white people may not 
need ; but they are good laws for the Indians. 

“^Thou shalt not mimic nor mock the 
thunder of the clouds, for they were made to 
water the earth and to keep down all evil 
spirits that dwell under the earth. 

“ ^ Thou shalt not mimic nor mock any 
mountain or river or rock of tho earth, for 
they are the habitations of some spirit, 
and thou shalt not arouse the anger of the 
spirits. 

“ ^ Thou shalt paint thy face black and fast 
ten days or more, before thou art twenty, that 


ROCK TRIPE 287 

Manitou may show thee the future in thy 
dreams. 

“ < At certain times, thou shalt clean out thy 
fireplaces, and make a new fire with thy fire- 
sticks for the sake of thine and thy children’s 
health. 

“ ^ Thou shalt not be lazy, nor be a vagabond 
on the earth, to be hated by all men. 

^‘‘Thou shalt be brave, and not fear any 
death.’ 

These are the laws my father taught me 
in the tepee on Lake Nipissing. And when I 
grew up and learned to hunt ahtik and catch 
ahmik in his washes, he taught me more of the 
ancient laws of our people. 

^‘My parents grew to be very old people, 
and when they died my brothers buried them 
on the river Manistique in the country of the 
Ottawas. 

^^And now, my sons, we must lie down to 
sleep, for to-morrow we must travel a long 
way. We shall each carry a load of meat, and 
it will be hard travelling.” 


CHAPTER XXX 


INDIAN DEEAMS 

The boys had been wondering how the In- 
dians would carry away all the meat of the 
five caribou, and they were surprised that so 
much of it had already been taken away that 
Obashay and themselves could take all of the 
remainder, Obashay himself carrying about a 
hundred pounds, while Jack was given a pack 
of about forty pounds. 

It is a long way to our camp,” said Oba- 
shay, and my sons must not carry too much.” 

On this long journey of five days from the 
place where Obashay had killed the caribou, 
the boys became much better acquainted with 
their Indian father. 

On the first evening they proposed to make 
camp on a small lake, well sheltered from the 
wind, but Obashay would not stop at this 
place. 

My sons,” he told them, this lake is a 
288 


mDIAK DEEAMS 


289 


place of bad medicine for the Indians. They 
never fish, in the lake and they never camp 
on its shore. 

A long time ago, three Indian boys were 
fishing on this lake. One of them caught on 
his hook a monster, who started to run away 
with the canoe, and when the Indians tried to 
stop and pull him out, he upset the canoe, and 
the three boys were drowned. Their bodies 
never drifted ashore, and the Indians believe 
that the monster swallowed them. When the 
wind sings in the pine trees, the spirits of the 
lost boys may be heard calling from the water, 
but nobody has ever seen them/^ 

When Obashay and his sons made their 
evening camps, strange birds often visited 
them. They came in small flocks and were so 
bold that they took tcraps of meat out of the 
hands of the boys. 

They are whisky-jacks,’^ Obashay told 
them. They live in the spruce swamps and 
build their nests and lay eggs in them long 
before the snow is melted. In winter whisky- 
jack is often hungry and then he comes to our 
camps wliere our children feed him.” 


290 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


“I never saw him in our country,” re- 
marked Jack. “ He looks like a gray-keaded 
priest. Is ke a good bird? ” 

Obaskay smiled. Our ckildren like kim,” 
ke said, ‘^but wken tkey do not give kim 
enougk meat, ke slips into our tepees or flies 
to our cackes and steals for kimself.” 

One evening Obaskay, of kis own accord, 
referred to Fred. ‘^Last nigkt,” ke said, 
Manitou skewed me your little brotker. He 
is now tke son of Wagooskaw. He is not cold 
or kungry; and if we go to look for kim, it 
may be tkat we skall find kim.” 

Wken tke boys were getting wood for tke 
fire. Jack asked, How could Obaskay see our 
little brotker, wko is on tke otker side of tke 
big lake? ” 

I take it tkat in kis dream ke saw Fred 
as tke adopted son of Wagooskaw,” replied 
Frank. 

Do you believe Obaskay can tell tke future 
from kis dreams? ” 

Ko,” said Frank, I do not believe any- 
body can do so. The Indians are often alone 
with their thoughts, and tkey naturally 


INDIAIST DKEAMS 291 

dream about tbe things they have on their 
minds. 

^‘Father says people who have learned to 
think don^t believe in dreams and signs and in 
telling the future from the stars. Father says 
that is all heathen superstition, and he says 
a good many white people are as superstitious 
as the heathen Indians, when it comes to do- 
ing a little clear thinking.” 

“But how could Obashay dream that he 
would adopt two English boys? ” 

“ In the most natural way in the world. 
He had been to Moose Factory to trade with 
the English, and he had seen there several 
young Englishmen working for the Hudson 
Bay Company. Obashay has never seen a 
black man, and therefore he would not be 
likely to dream of adopting a Negro.” 

Jack did not reply, but he showed plainly 
that Frank had not quite convinced him. 

Alois now took Jack^s part, and declared 
boldly that he believed in dreams, and that he 
was sure the dreams of the Indians often came 
true. 

“Of course you believe in dreams,” Lrank 


292 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


turned on liini, and in all that nonsense 
about the stars and the number thirteen and 
a lot of other rot. You Frenchmen live and 
travel so much with the Indians, that I’m not 
surprised you have almost turned heathen.” 

^^Well, some things bring bad luck/’ Alois 
maintained. All the voyagers know that a 
cabin of aspen logs brings bad luck.” 

Sure it does/’ Frank retorted laughing. 
^‘If they would go inside and build a warm 
fire, it would bring them good luck; but on 
account of some silly superstition they camp 
outside and freeze. That’s bad luck enough. 

“ If beavers did not eat the poplar bark, it 
would bring them bad luck ; but when they eat 
it, it makes them fat.” 

Alois and Jack could not think of any argu- 
ment against Frank and applied themselves 
to pulling some dry wood out of the snow. 
^^Look out, boys,” Frank chaffed them, 
don’t bring any dry poplar. It will bring 
you bad luck. It will burn your moccasins, 
if you sit too close to the fire.' 

I am not worried,” Frank added, as they 
gathered up the dry wood, “ about dreams and 


INDIAN DREAMS 


293 


bad medicine lakes, I am worried about Fred. 
How are we ever going to find him? The 
country south of Lake Superior is not only as 
big and wild as the country on this side of the 
lake, it is also full of hostile Indians, Ottawas, 
and Chippewas.’^ 

Perhaps,” suggested Jack, “ the American 
and English soldiers will be there next 
spring.” 

Oh, Jack,” Frank exploded, “ do you still 
believe that foolish story? 

Most of the American soldiers have gone 
home to their farms and families. Next sum- 
mer the English will try to take Montreal, 
and when they have done that, the war is over, 
and by and by France and England will make 
peace. 

“ I hope Canada will not be returned to the 
French, for there will never be peace as long 
as the country is half English and half 
French, and each nation bids for the friend- 
ship of the Indian tribes, and encourages 
them in the worst kinds of outrages against 
the other white people.” 

^^But if Canada and the Great Lake forts 


294 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


are not returned to the French, English sol- 
diers would come to Mackinac and the 
Sault, wouldn’t they? ” asked Jack. 

Yes, they would,” Frank said. But 
Heaven knows when. It might take two or 
three years, and we cannot wait for that. And 
it would not help us at all, for they could not 
find Wagooshaw.” 

Maybe,” Alois put in, ^^Fred would not 
wish to come away. Some white boys like to 
live with the Indians. I like it myself.” 

ril see to that,” Frank declared. If we 
find him, he’ll have to come along.” 

“ But what are we going to do with Wagoo- 
shaw? Do you think he will want to give him 
up? ” asked Jack. 

Wagooshaw? ” repeated Frank. I don’t 
know how we can handle him. I must ask 
Obashay. I know that his thoughts are much 
with Fred and Wagooshaw, but it is hard to 
get him to talk.” 


CHAPTER XXXI 


OBASHAY TALKS 

The return of the hunters laden with game 
was an occasion of great joy in the camp on 
the Michipicoten. It brought a kind of Christ- 
mas cheer to these people who lived in a lone 
world of their own. The Mukegoes never were 
at war with their Indian neighbors, the Otta- 
was and Chippewas; for these tribes did not 
covet the great wilderness of lakes, rivers, 
rocks and swamps over which roamed a few 
hundred families of Swampies ” as these In- 
dians were sometimes called. 

In fact the Swampies or Wood Indians live 
in that wild country to this day as their fore- 
fathers have lived for centuries. Once a year 
they bring their peltries to some trading post 
of the Hudson Bay Company, then they vanish 
again into the wilderness. 

A few weeks Obashay and his hunters 

rested and feasted in the home camp on the 
295 


296 THE RAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Michipicoten, then they went once more to 
hunt lynx and otter, beaver, marten, and cari- 
bou. But the snow was deep now, so they had 
to travel on snow-shoes, and Obashay was 
proud of his white sons, who quickly became 
good hunters and travellers. 

Toward the end of April they all returned 
to the Michipicoten. 

“ In the Moon of Flowing Sap, we must go 
and make sugar,” Obashay told his white sons, 
“ for we are too poor to buy the white man’s 
sugar.” 

About the first of May the whole camp, in- 
cluding women and children, moved to a 
sugar-bush a day’s journey from their home 
camp. 

The weather was now quite warm, but snow 
lay still deep in the woods. 

The Indians cut slits and holes into the 
trees, and into these they inserted chips of 
wood or tubes of elder to let the sap trickle 
into bowls and buckets of birch bark. They 
boiled the sap in kettles of iron which, to- 
gether with many birch-bark vessels, they left 
in the sugar-bush from year to year. 


OBASHAY TALKS 297 

Wlien Frank and Jack wondered if tkese 
valuable utensils would be safe in tbe open 
brush sheds, Obashay told them smiling : 

My sons, the Muskegoes do not steal, and 
there are no white men in this country.’’ 

So great was the reputation of these In- 
dians for honesty that the American fur- 
trader, Alexander Henry, a few years later 
trusted them with goods to the amount of 
three thousand beaver sldns. In the spring 
the hunters all came in and paid their ac- 
counts in full, except one man who had died, 
but his relatives offered to pay for the thirty 
skins which he owed the traders. 

During the winter the Michipicoten Indians 
had lived entirely on fish and game, to which 
they occasionally added some blueberries, 
which they had gathered and dried during the 
summer. Now they all ate little else but 
sugar. 

^‘The Ottawas and Chippewas,” Obashay 
told his white sons, gather much wild rice, 
and also raise some corn ; but in the Muskego 
country there is but little wild rice, and the 
summers are too short to raise corn. So we 


298 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


must live on wahboos and fish, and sometimes 
we eat beaver, or we find caribou, and some- 
times we kill a big moose or find a fat bear 
in his den. The Ottawas and Chippewas kill 
many deer, but there are no deer in the coun- 
try of the Muskegoes.^’ 

After the Indians had returned from the 
sugar-bush, Obashay made a talk to the white 
boys. 

My sons,^’ he said, when I was alone on 
the hunting trail, I prayed much to Manitou 
for your little brother. Now the ice is melt- 
ing in the Big Lake, and in the Moon of 
Strawberries, when the days are long and the 
nights are warm, we should cross the Big Lake 
to find your little brother, for I think that 
Manitou has heard my prayer and that your 
little brother is alive in the country of the 
Ottawas.” 

Obashay was silent and looked into the fire, 
but Frank made no reply, because he did not 
think that Obashay had finished. 

^^When the new moon shows in the sky,” 
the chief began, after a little, I shall go with 
Ahtekoo and Bowitigo to the land of the Ot- 


OBASHAY TALKS 


299 


tawas and CMppewas. If Manitou hears my 
prayer, we shall find your little brother, and 
bring him back with us. You should write 
your brother a letter in your own speech. 
You should tell him that you are my sons and 
that he need not fear to come with me, and 
that he will find you in my camp on the Michi- 
picoten.” 

Again Obashay was silent while Frank put 
another log on the fire. 

“ The Ottawas and Chippewas,” Obashay 
continued, “ have many warriors. They know 
the laws I have taught you, but they do not 
obey these laws when they meet their enemies, 
because their fathers have taught them to 
make war against their enemies. They are 
friends of the French, but they are enemies of 
the English, and they will kill you if you go 
with me to their country. So you, my sons, 
must stay in my camp and hunt for my people 
till I return with your little brother.” 

“ My father,” Frank now replied, we have 
heard what you have said. Our father and 
mother have been very good to us. We have 
never gone hungry and when the storm rushed 


300 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


over the forest we have been warm under the 
blankets our mother made for us. Our father 
is wise and knows the warriors of the Ottawas, 
and if he says that we cannot go with him 
across the Big Lake, we must remain here till 
he returns.” 

Obashay seemed to be pleased with Frank^s 
answer, but he made no reply, and in a short 
time he arose, bade the boys good-night, and 
went to his own tepee. 

When Obashay had left, Jack could not re- 
main silent any longer. 

Frank,” he said, “ we can’t stay here and 
let Obashay do all the dangerous work for us. 
Why didn’t you tell him so? ” 

You should both stay here,” Alois came in, 
^^but I can go with Obashay. The Ottawas 
will see that I am a Frenchman, and they will 
not harm me. But they will kill you, be- 
cause they can tell by your looks and your 
hair that you are Englishmen. You can’t fool 
Indians on looks. I often wondered how they 
can tell one tribe from another, but they can.” 

Ah, you fool Frenchy ! ” Jack cried. We 
aren’t Englishmen, we are Americans.” 


OBASHAY TALKS 


301 


Sacre! Kow you listen and stop your big 
talk/^ Alois exploded. Ottawa and Chip- 
pewa he know two white men, good French- 
man and bad Englishman. He know no 
American. You get killed last summer pretty 
near quick; but I talk to Indians and tell 
them 10,000 soldiers are coming. They hang 
and shoot all Indians who kill Englishmen. 
They get little scared and don’t kill you right 
away. Kow you say to me fool Frenchy. I 
say to you big fool Englishman! I say Ot- 
tawa will say, ‘ Bad Englishman come to our 
country. We don’t want him.’ They kill 
you and pull off your hair. Voila! I teU 
you.” 

Here, you two fighting cocks,” Frank took 
the word, ^^go outside and have a wrestling 
match in the snow. That will cool you off. 
If Obashay says we can’t go, then we can’t go. 
That’s all there is to it.” 

In his heart Frank was loath to remain be- 
hind, while Obashay went in search of his lost 
brother, and he thought hard how he could 
best make a plea for himself and Jack and 
Alois. 


302 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


ISText evening Obashay came again to the 
trader^s cabin and seated bimself before the 
fire, as if ready for another council. After he 
had drawn a few whiffs from his pipe, he made 
another talk to the boys. 

“ My sons,’’ he began, to-day the north- 
west wind has made the last ice to sail for the 
Great Rapids. After three sleeps I shall pad- 
dle with Esquasayway’s sons past the high 
cliffs of the shore to the Great Rapids. We 
shall visit the white trader at the Sault, for 
we have caught many beavers, and we shall 
visit my friends amongst the Ottawas, and I 
shall pray to the Great Spirit that he will let 
me find the trail of Wagooshaw and your little 
brother. My heart will be sad, because my 
eyes shall not see my white sons till I return. 
But I am afraid to take my white sons along, 
because I fear that the Ottawas will kill 
them.” 

How was the time for Frank to make his 
plea. 

“ My father,” he began, our hearts are sad 
at the thought of letting you go into danger 
without your white sons, who have grown 


OBASHAY TALKS 


303 


strong and have learned many things you have 
taught them. 

If we were children or were afraid of dan- 
ger, we should not have come on the long trail 
from the waters of the Ohio. If we stay here 
and sleep under our warm blankets, we shall 
feel like a man who hides in a safe place when 
his brothers meet the enemy. Have you not 
taught us to be brave and not to fear any 
death? 

Frank was silent a minute. 

“ Does my father wish to hear what is in his 
son’s heart? ” he asked after a short pause. 

I will hear what my son has to say,” re- 
plied Obashay. 

“ If we remain here,” Frank continued, 
our mother, Esquasayway, will think, ^ Oba- 
shay’s white sons are not brave like Ahtekoo 
and Bowitigo.’ When we return to our white 
father, shall we say to him, ^ We followed our 
little brother on a long trail, but we were 
afraid to go into the country of the Ottawas, 
and we let our father, Obashay, go into dan- 
ger without us, while we stayed in a safe camp 
with the women and children’? 


304 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


I liave finislied. We shall hear what our 
father has to say, and we shall do as he tells 
us; for we remember the law of the Ottawas 
which he has taught us : ^ Thou shalt honor 
thy father and thy mother.’ ” 

For a long time Obashay sat as if lost in 
deep thought or silent prayer. 

Then he arose and faced the three lads. 

“ My sons,” he spoke, with his eyes flashing, 
^‘you have spoken well, and I know what is 
in your hearts. 

After three sleeps, we shall carry the big 
canoe down to the river, and you shall go with 
me to the land of the Ottawas. And when we 
find Wagooshaw I shall show him the scalps 
which I took long ago, when the Sioux invaded 
our country, and I shall tell him that an Ot- 
tawa warrior does not go on the war-path 
against little boys.” 


CHAPTER XXXII 


THE TEAIL OF WAGOOSHAW 

Although the boys bad bad more than a 
taste of tbe bard life of tbe Indians, they bad 
been very bappy. 

And wbat a number of things they bad 
learned to know and do! They felt so much 
at borne in tbe wilderness that a journey from 
Lake Superior to Hudson Bay either on foot 
and on snow-shoes would not have frightened 
them. They bad learned like tbe Indians to 
wrest food and shelter from tbe wilderness at 
all seasons. Sickness bad been unknown in 
Obasbay’s camp, and they bad grown strong 
and bard through constant exercise in tbe 
open, although they bad been compelled to 
live almost entirely on meat. 

Besides growing strong through daily walk- 
ing, running, and snow-shoeing, they bad be- 
come supple and quick through many a 

friendly wrestling match with Abtekoo and 
305 


306 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Bowitigo. And many a friendly battle they 
had fought with muffled tomahawks and pad- 
ded war-clubs. 

They would have liked to pit their skill in 
marksmanship against the Indian boys, but 
for such contests, powder and lead were alto- 
gether too costly in this wild country. 

Now, however, the happy days of camping 
and hunting were over, and they were to fol- 
low Obashay into the dangerous country of 
the hostile Ottawas and Chippewas. 

They left the Michipicoten in a large canoe, 
in which Chief Obashay and his five boys could 
make good speed. 

When they struck the broad swell of the 
open lake, Obashay laid down his paddle and 
in a loud, deep voice began a prayer to the 
Great Spirit. 

He prayed Manitou to hold back the west 
wind and to let the big waves sleep till he and 
his sons should see the great swirling rapids, 
and had safely lifted their canoe on shore. 
He asked that Manitou might make their eyes 
clear and their limbs strong so they might be 
able to discover and follow the trail which 


THE TKAIL OF WAGOOSHAW 307 


Wagoosliaw had taken with, the little white 
boy. Then he dropped some tobacco and a 
piece of caribou meat in the lake as a sacrifice 
to the Great Spirit. 

On the evening of the second day, some time 
after dark, Obashay hid the canoe in the 
woods and with his sons followed a trail to the 
house of the French trader. About half a mile 
from the house he pointed to a thicket of 
spruce-trees, saying : My sons, you must now 
hide in the woods till I return. You must not 
talk in a loud voice and you must lie still, as 
if you were asleep, till I come back and tell 
you what to do.’^ 

To the white boys it seemed a long time be- 
fore Obashay returned, but when he came he 
told the boys that he had seen his old friend 
the trader, and they would now all go and 
sleep in the loft of the trading-house. This 
was the only safe place for them, because 
many Indians were camping near his home, 
and others were still coming in every day to 
trade their furs. 

They approached the rear of the trading- 
house through the woods and when they 


308 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


reached it, they found a ladder by means of 
which they all climbed to the loft. Then they 
pulled the ladder up after themselves and 
hooked the door from the inside. As they had 
slept only a few hours the night before, and 
were all very tired from their long journey, 
they soon fell asleep on their bed of deerskins. 

Before it was daylight Obashay woke them 
up and told them of his plan. 

My sons,” he said, listen to your father 
and do as I tell you. Ahtekoo and Bowitigo 
will go with me. I shall go and talk with the 
Indians and I shall seek the trail of Wagoo- 
shaw and find his camp. You, my white sons, 
must give me a letter to your little brother, so 
he will not be afraid of us.” 

^^My father,” Frank replied, “we cannot 
give you a letter to our little brother, because 
he has not yet learned the white man’s way of 
reading letters, and we wish very much to go 
with you to help you find the trail of Wagoo- 
shaw.” 

But on this point Obashay was inflexible. 

“My sons,” he told them, “you cannot go 
with me. Only my Indian sons can now go 


THE TRAIL OF WAGOOSHAW 309 


with. me. My white sons and the Little 
Frenchman must stay here. The Indians still 
talk much of war, and say if any Englishmen 
come to their country they will kill them all. 
If my white sons go with me, all the Ottawas 
will say that I have brought two Englishmen 
to their country and they will not let me look 
for the trail of Wagooshaw. 

You, my white sons, and the Little French- 
man, must stay in this house. The trader will 
send you meat and water, and you must be 
very still all the time, and not make many 
big noises with fighting and wrestling as white 
boys love to do. You must only leave this 
house a little while at night, you must not 
have the ladder standing on the ground and 
you must always keep the little door closed. 

If you hear a noise of Indians fighting and 
shouting you must not leave this place to see 
the fight, for the Indians may be mad from 
drinking the white man^s water, and if they 
find your hiding-place they will come and kill 
you. The trader cannot help you and I can- 
not help you, for the Ottawas and Chippewas 
are of my own people, and I have taught you 


310 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 

tlie law tliat a warrior shall not kill his 
brother in a quarrel.” 

When the stars had almost faded from the 
sky and the little white-throats began to 
whistle in the trees, Obashay and his Indian 
sons left their hiding-place and disappeared 
in the forest. 

Some time after daylight an Indian woman 
entered the trading-house, came up a narrow 
stairway and opening a trap-door to the loft, 
brought a piece of smoked venison and a jug 
of water for the boys. A little later the trader 
came to the store with several Indians, who 
each carried a pack of furs. 

The floor on which the boys had their bed 
was also the ceiling of the store. It was made 
of boards split from logs and there were so 
many cracks and chinks in the floor that the 
boys could not help seeing and hearing every- 
thing that went on below. 

Alois had grown up in Indian trading- 
houses, but Frank and Jack were much inter- 
ested in watching the Indians and their 
squaws barter their furs for blankets, knives, 
beads, needles, red cloth, little mirrors, lead, 


THE TKAIL OF WAGOOSHAW 311 


and powder, and many otFer things that made 
up the stock of the French fur-trader. 

The trader used no money, but he used many 
little wooden chips as we use tickets or metal 
checks to-day. Each chip represented one 
beaver fur. 

One Indian was given fifty chips for his 
furs. That meant that his furs were worth 
fifty beavers. Out of these chips the Indian 
first paid his debt to the trader, and for the 
balance he selected some more goods. But 
this Indian wanted a new gun and some traps 
after all his chips were gone, and the trader 
counted out thirty chips, but he did not give 
them to the Indian. When the Indian went 
away with his gun and his traps, Alois whis- 
pered, That man owes the trader thirty 
beavers. The trader will put it down in his 
book, but the Indian just remembers it.” 

Once during the forenoon the boys acci- 
dentally made a little noise moving about. 
Hearing this, the trader, saying something to 
the Indians about the pesky red squirrels 
stealing his corn, rushed noisily up-stairs and 
kicked at piles of corn and birch-bark sugar 


312 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


vessels and called in a loud voice in French, 
Get out of here ! Get out, you little thieves T’ 
To the boys he did not say a word, but he 
pressed his forefinger on his lips, and made the 
gestures of an Indian killing a man with a 
tomahawk and scalping him. 

About noon the trader locked up his store 
and went away and the boys could once more 
move about and converse in a whisper. 

This squirrel game is a hard game ! ” re- 
marked Jack. ‘‘ It wouldn’t be so bad if we 
could make as much noise as the squirrels 
make.” 

When at last night came, the lads heard the 
weird sound of an Indian drum, and Alois told 
his triends that the Indians were having a 
dance. 

Let’s crawl up and watch them,” sug- 
gested Jack. have never seen an Indian 
dance.” 

You can crawl with me to the woods for a 
while,” Frank warned him, but you don’t go 
near that Indian camp. Do you want them to 
dance around our scalps? ” 

Two more days the boys passed in the same 


THE TKAIL OF WAGOOSHAW 313 


way, playing squirrel without being allowed 
to make any squirrel noises. 

Frank, I am afraid Obashay has been 
killed,” said Jack, when the third night came 
and the chief had not returned and had sent 
no word to the boys. If we have to stay here 
much longer the Indians will surely discover 
us. They pretty nearly did yesterday, when 
you started to talk in your sleep, but I pinched 
you just in time.” 

About midnight Alois was awakened by 
some sound outside the building. He sat up 
and listened. Yes, there it came again. The 
clear whistle of a white-throat. Alois an- 
swered the call, and after a few seconds the 
call was repeated outside. Alois arose quietly, 
opened the door, and looked into the night. 

Below in the little garden he could see 
three men. Alois gave his two friends a 
push and called, Get up, boys ! Obashay is 
here ! ” 

Before Alois had time to put out the lad- 
ders, Frank and Jack had dropped to the 
ground and hugged and kissed the big chief as 
if he were really their own father. 


314 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Obashay himself was so much moved that 
for a while he could not utter a word. Then 
he sat down and motioned the boys to sit down 
also. 

My sons,” he spoke, it is good that you 
are here. My heart has been with you all the 
days that I have been away. I have not seen 
your little brother, but the Great Spirit has 
heard my prayer, for I have found the trail of 
Wagooshaw and I know that Manitou has pre- 
served the life of your little brother. 

We must now make haste and take away 
all our things from the store of the white 
trader, who has been your good friend, for we 
must reach our hiding-place in the forest be- 
fore the sun shines on the Big Lake, and there 
we must prepare to go and take away your 
little brother from the camp of Wagooshaw.” 

When they reached the place which Oba- 
shay had selected before he came to the trad- 
ing-house, the boys learned that he had left 
here some dried venison and a bundle of goods 
and other things. 

After they had all eaten a meal and re- 
freshed themselves with a drink from a small 


THE TKAIL OF WAGOOSHAW 315 


stream, Obashay told tbe lads wbat they 
should do. 

‘^My sons,’’ he spoke, ^^you must be very 
quiet at this camp and you must not make a 
fire. You must not walk toward the rising 
sun, for not far off that way runs an Indian 
trail. If you go near that trail some Indians 
may see you, or their dogs may smell your 
tracks and follow you to our hiding-place. 

My Indian sons and I have walked many 
leagues, we have talked to many Indians, and 
we have slept very little. We must now lie 
down to sleep, but one of you must remain 
awake. When we have slept, I shall prepare 
you to go with me on the trail of Wagooshaw.’^ 


CHAPTER 


THE FIGHT 

When Obashay awoke, be at once prepared 
tbe boys in a way no white boys ever prepared 
for a journey. Their long hair he cut accord- 
ing to the custom of the Ottawas and he 
painted it black so it looked like the hair of 
his Indian sons. When he had also painted 
their faces and hands and dressed each of 
them in an Ottawa hunting coat, only the most 
careful observer would have suspected that 
Chief Obashay was travelling with two Indian 
sons and three white sons. 

Although the boys realized that they were 
now entering upon the most dangerous part 
of their long journey, they were so much 
amused at their make-up, that they could not 
refrain from laughing and from telling Oba- 
shay that he would not be able to tell his red 
sons from his white sons. 

But Obashay smiled and replied, ^‘I can 
316 


THE FIGHT 


317 


tell all of my sons a long way off by their 
walk.” And he added, I know my white 
sons love to make much noise like all white 
boys, but they must now learn to travel quietly 
like Indians on the war-path.” 

Some time after dark, Obashay told his 
sons that it was now time to leave. 

We shall travel on a good trail all night,” 
he added. It is hard work to travel through 
these woods without following a trail. I think 
we shall not meet any Indians. Those who 
are camping near the trader’s place have been 
drinking fire water, and they will sleep to- 
night in their tepees and under the bushes like 
sick dogs.” 

The boys could tell from the moon and the 
stars that they were going in a southwesterly 
direction. But all night Obashay never spoke 
a word in general talk, and the white boys 
were impressed by the silence in which half a 
dozen men in Indian file could wind along the 
trail. 

Three or four times Obashay stopped, and 
motioned his followers to listen. 

It is mawkwa, the bear,” he whispered, 


318 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


when some large animal crashed through the 
woods. ^^Mawkwa is much scared, when he 
smells Indians.” Once Obashay nearly 
stepped on a porcupine, and Frank almost 
gave a yell when the startled creature noisily 
scrambled up a tree near the path. An hour 
later they met a skunk leisurely ambling along 
the trail. Step out of the trail and let him 
go by,” whispered Obashay. “A wise man 
does not pick a quarrel with zhegawk.” 

When the sky began to turn gray, a buck 
suddenly snorted at them from a near-by hol- 
low, and Jack felt all his hair rising up, in 
spite of grease and paint, although he knew 
quite well that the sound was only the danger 
call of the red deer of his home forest. 

^^We must now leave the trail,” said Oba- 
shay, when they had passed the hollow. “ But 
each must follow his own path, and you must 
walk over open spots and you must be careful 
not to turn the brush and the flowers so they 
point to our camp.” 

During the day Obashay and his sons kept 
quiet. They built no fire and did not hunt. 
The chief had brought smoked venison and a 


THE FIGHT 


319 


little parched corn from the Sault, and this 
corn they soaked in water and ate with the 
venison. They also found plenty of wild 
strawberries, and as the weather was warm 
and dry, they did not suffer from the lack of 
a fire. Their clothing had become soaked with 
the dew in the brush, but they had plenty of 
time to dry it in the June sun. 

When evening approached Obashay told his 
sons that they would again travel through the 
hours of darkness. The Indians,” he added, 
^^do not like to follow a trail after dark. 
Sometimes it is too dark in the forest to fol- 
low the trail and when the moon and the stars 
shine down on the earth, the cold dew falls on 
the bushes and the flowers, and it makes our 
clothing as wet as if we had passed through a 
rain storm.” 

The second night on the trail passed much 
like the first, but Obashay seemed to travel 
with still more caution, and examined very 
carefully two places where the trail forked. 

When he came to the third fork he stopped. 

The trail is now so dim that we cannot fol- 
low it in the dark,” he told his sons. ^^We 


320 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


must go a little way into the woods and lie 
down to sleep till the sun rises.” 

When Obashay called the boys it was broad 
daylight. The white-throats were whistling, 
and the hermit thrushes that live only in wild 
places were singing in the tops of the spruce- 
trees. 

Arise, my sons, and eat some meat and 
corn,” said Obashay, ^^for it may be many 
hours before we can eat again.” 

The meal was eaten in silence, and when it 
was finished the chief spoke again. 

‘‘My sons,” he said, “we are now not far 
from the camp of Wagooshaw. I shall paint 
again the hair and faces of my white sons, so 
Wagooshaw will not know you are white men. 
If your little brother sees you, he will not 
know that you are his brothers. You must not 
speak to him, but must listen to the words I 
speak to Wagooshaw. If you speak to your lit- 
tle brother, Wagooshaw or his squaw will take 
him away and we shall never find him again.” 

After an hour’s walk on a dim trail, they 
came to a little clearing on the shore of a small 
lake. 


THE FIGHT 321 

Obashay stopped well back in tbe timber 
and pointed to a tepee. 

Tbat is tbe camp of Wagoosbaw/’ be 
said. ‘^Tbe man wbo sits under tbe bircb 
smoking is Wagoosbaw. Tbe little boy wbo is 
shooting with an arrow is your little brother. 
My eyes can tell tbat bis hair is not tbe hair 
of an Ottawa boy. I shall speak to Wagoo- 
sbaw, and my sons must not quarrel with him, 
if be will not let your brother go. Wagoo- 
sbaw is a bad man, but be is of my people, and 
tbe Great Spirit has commanded our fathers 
tbat a man should not raise tbe tomahawk 
against bis brother.” 

Wagoosbaw shook bands with Obasbay and 
tbe strangers and then all sat down in silence, 
tbe five boys a little way off. Then Obasbay 
lit bis pipe and passed it to Wagoosbaw. 

My sons are not warriors,” remarked Oba- 
sbay. ^^Tbey are too young to smoke with 
warriors, but I wish them to listen to our 
council.” 

Frank . thought Wagoosbaw looked angry, 
but be made no objection. 

We have come a long way from my camp 


322 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


on Michipicoten,” Obashay finished, “and I 
have a message and some presents for my 
brother/^ 

“Wagooshaw will hear what his brother 
has to say/’ replied the Ottawa sullenly. 

“ The Great Spirit has let me know that 
Wagooshaw is a brave warrior, who goes on 
the war-path for many months. He has 
brought home a prisoner from among the 
white people. Two of my young men I have 
made my sons. They are the brothers of your 
prisoner, whom you have just told to go off 
and play.” Here Obashay pushed up the 
sleeves of Frank’s and Jack’s hunting coats. 
“ The Great Spirit has sent us to you, and we 
give you these presents to let the little white 
boy go away with us.” 

Wagooshaw looked greedily at the blan- 
kets, the tobacco, the bag of beads, the new 
hunting-knife and the shining new pistol, all 
of which Obashay spread out before him. 

“ The white boy belongs to my squaw,” he 
answered. “ I cannot sell him.” 

“ It is the custom amongst the Ottawas,” 
replied Obashay, “ that a warrior can do as be 


THE FIGHT 


323 


pleases with his prisoners. Does Wagooshaw 
have to ask his squaw what he shall do with 
his prisoners? We have brought beautiful 
beads and a roll of red cloth for her, such as 
no other women can buy.^^ 

Go and take him away,” said Wagooshaw. 

I shall silence the tongue of my squaw.” 

Obashay arose and shook hands with Wa- 
gooshaw and the boys did the same. 

When Frank at Obashay^s request called 
Fred’s name in English and told him to come 
along, the small boy stood and stared, as if 
rooted to the ground. Before he realized what 
had happened, Frank and Jack had lifted him 
up and carried him to the trail in the timber. 

Obashay now seemed a different man. 

We must march as fast as the small boy 
can walk. Wagooshaw’s squaw has more 
than one bad tongue, and when she comes 
home she will be very angry and it may be she 
will tell Wagooshaw to follow us and bring 
your little brother back to her. I also know 
that Wagooshaw is angry because we sur- 
prised him and gave him no chance to fight or 
to hide the white boy. Indians do not like to 


324 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


do things quick like white men, but we could 
not wait and hold a long council with many 
Indians over your little brother.” 

“ My father, why did you give Wagooshaw a 
pistol?” asked Frank. It is a dangerous 
weapon, and if Wagooshaw ever wishes to 
harm you, he can conceal it under his blanket 
and kill you with it.” 

Obashay laughed. My son,” he answered, 
“ I gave Wagooshaw a very good new pistol, 
but I took a little pin out of it, and it will not 
shoot before Wagooshaw takes it to the trader 
and gets the little pin. I know that Wagoo- 
shaw is a treacherous man, and that is the 
reason why I took the little pin out of the 
pistol. Wagooshaw camps alone most of the 
time, because he has very few friends, and be- 
cause all the women know that his squaw has 
more than one bad tongue. When she comes 
home and finds the little white boy gone, Wa- 
gooshaw will have hard work to silence her 
bad tongues. And maybe,” he concluded, 
laughing, “ Wagooshaw will go away again on 
a long war-path, so he will not hear the voice 
of his squaw for many moons.” 


THE FIGHT 


326 


When they came to a pleasant open spot, 
Obashay painted Fredas hair and face, so as to 
make him look like an Indian boy. 

When we meet people on the trail,’’ he said 
laughing, they will not go and tell that they 
have seen a little white boy.” 

A small party of Indians did meet them in 
the afternoon, but so well had Obashay dis- 
guised his four white followers that the sus- 
picion of the Indians was not aroused. 

In the evening Obashay made camp. We 
must all eat now,” he said. ^^And we shall 
drink some tea and I have brought some of the 
sugar we made on the Michipicoten. It will 
taste good after our long walk. To-night we 
shall not march, but you can all sleep in your 
blankets. I shall not sleep for a while, and 
when I lie down to sleep one of my sons will 
keep watch, so that Wagooshaw cannot creep 
up and carry the Little Brother away again.” 

The night passed quietly, with Obashay and 
his two Indian sons taking turns at watching. 

When the morning davmed, Obashay told 
his boys that they had better begin their 
march now. ^^W^e shall take a trail,” he ex- 


326 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


plained, which the Indians do not use much, 
so that we shall not meet many people. The 
dew will make our clothes wet, but when the 
sun rises high, we shall soon be dry.” 

He had just finished speaking and was 
pointing out the direction they would take to 
find the old trail, when a shot rang out from 
a thicket close by, and Obashay fell forward 
on his face. 

“ Wagooshaw ! ” exclaimed Frank, and 
rushed into the thicket guided by a puff of 
black smoke. 

Jack sprang after Frank and found his 
brother in a fierce hand-to-hand fight with a 
mad Indian, each trying his best to strike the 
other down with his hatchet. Frank had not 
stopped to pick up a gun, and the Indian had 
not been given time to reload. 

The Indian found that his enemy knew how 
to handle the deadly weapon of the red man. 
Every blow Frank warded off or dodged, and 
before Jack had a chance to strike, Frank got 
in such a hard blow on Wagooshaw’s right 
arm that the tomahawk dropped from his 
hand, and now the white boy sprang at him 



Jack found his brother in a fierce hand-to-hand fight 

Page 326. 








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THE FIGHT 327 

like a panther and secured a strangle hold on 
Wagooshaw^s throat. 

Jack, get his knife ! Frank called. Be 
quick ! He^s trying to stab me. I can^t let go 
of his throat ! ” 

For a few seconds tlie three turned and 
twisted in the brush like wolves in mortal 
combat, then Jack got hold of the dreaded 
knife and flung it away. But now the Indian 
made a last desperate effort to break Frank’s 
hold, and the weight and strength of the man 
began to tell against the boys; and as Jack 
was trying to pinion the arms of Wagooshaw, 
the Indian, mad as a struggling wolf, set his 
teeth deep in J ack’s left arm. To break away 
was impossible, so Jack struck his enemy on 
the U mple as hard as he could. 

That blow flnished Wagooshaw. He lay 
limp and helpless on the ground and in a few 
minutes the boys had him securely tied up. 

When they ran back to Obashay, they found 
that Alois and the two Indian boys had band- 
aged Obashay ^s shoulder and had almost 
stopped the blood which had gushed from the 
wound. 


328 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


“ WagoosEaw made a poor shot/’ said Oba- 
shay. His bullet made a bad wound but it 
did not break my bones, for I can raise my 
arm. 

My sons,” he continued, looking at Frank 
and Jack, ^^you are wounded, but you are 
good fighters.” 

Then he told the boys how to bandage their 
wounds, and for Jack’s left arm he made a 
kind of poultice of herbs and roots. The 
bite of a mad Indian,” he said, “ is as bad as 
the bite of a mad dog.” 

“ Let me run and kill that dirty murderer ! ” 
cried Alois, picking up a hatchet and starting 
for Wagooshaw. 

^^0, my son ! ” urged Obashay. “ Is Wa- 
gooshaw not dead? Then, my sons, we will 
not kill him. Manitou has punished him. My 
white sons, who are not warriors, have 
stretched him out like a dog. All the Ottawas 
will hear what my sons have done and they 
will say, ‘Wagooshaw is no warrior. Boys 
have taken away his tomahawk and his knife 
and have tied his arms with a belt.’ Manitou 
has punished him. We must not take his life. 


THE FIGHT 829 

His heart is black, but his father was an 
Ottawa.” 

Before they struck across the woods for the 
old trail, Obashay sent Ahtekoo and Bowitigo 
to bandage Wagooshaw’s arm. 

You shall not harm him,” he commanded 
the boys, for Manitou has punished him ; but 
you shall see that he is tied well, so he cannot 
follow again on our trail.” 

The boys wondered much about the fate of 
Wagooshaw. Would he starve to death, or 
would the wolves come and eat him? 

Obashay did not answer their questions, but 
only told them to march along and not make 
any loud talk. 

Toward evening they came to the tepee of a 
hunting party, and Obashay told his boys that 
they need not be afraid, that these men were 
his friends, who had told him where Wagoo- 
shaw had made his camp. Then he told the 
boys to rest, while he spoke to his friends. 

^^My brother,” he said to the leader, ^^we 
have found the camp of Wagooshaw. We 
have had a quarrel with him, and my sons 
have bound him at the place where we slept 


330 THE EAID OF THE OTTAWA 


last night. When the sun has risen, you must 
go and set him free. I fear that his squaw 
may not find him, and if he remains bound 
more than one night, the wolves may become 
bold and kill him. Manitou has punished him, 
for my white sons, who are not warriors, have 
overcome him, and have tied his arms with a 
belt.” 

Then Obashay told his friends in detail 
everything that had happened, and when he 
left them, they gave him a load of fresh veni- 
son for his boys. 

An hour later Obashay led his boys to a fine 
camping-place, where they built a fire, and 
made a feast. And after the feast, Obashay 
told stories of his battles with the Sioux, and 
of wonderful adventures on his long journeys 
to Hudson Bay and to the great river Missis- 
sippi, where it flows through the countries of 
the Sioux and the Chippewas, where very few 
Indians, at that time, had ever seen a white 


man. 


CHAPTEK XXXIY 


THE GREAT COUNCIL 

The white boys bad expected that Obasbay 
would leave tbem at tbe Sault, but when 
Frank asked bim where they could buy a 
canoe or find good trees to make one, Obasbay 
looked surprised and asked : 

Is there not room enough for my sons in 
my long canoe? ’’ 

Yes, my father,” replied Frank, there is 
plenty of room in the long canoe, but you are 
going to the Michipicoten, and we must now 
start home with our little brother, for we have 
all been gone a long time.” 

I am going with my sons for a way, so 
they will not get lost or be killed,” the chief 
declared. To-night we shall carry our canoe 
past the Big Rapids and to-morrow we shall 
paddle toward the rising sun on the Lake of 
the Hurons.” 

On the journey Obasbay told the boys that 
331 


332 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


lie thought the war would yet last a long time. 
The Chippewas and Ottawas, he said, still talk 
much of war and threaten to kill any English- 
man who may dare to come to their country. 
He had heard that an Ottawa chief was going 
to unite all the Indian tribes in a great war 
against the English ; but the name of this chief 
he had not learned, but he thought it might 
be Pontiac, the best-known war chief of the 
Ottawas. 

To the boys war seemed to be a long way 
off, for in Obashay’s company they felt en- 
tirely safe. They fished and hunted along the 
route to their heart’s content, but Obashay 
kept them all painted and dressed like In- 
dians. They met and passed many Indians 
and talked with them, but Obashay never 
camped with any of them. They returned the 
same way the boys had come, by way of 
Georgian Bay, the Severn River, and Lake 
Simcoe, for Obashay said they would meet 
too many Indian warriors if they travelled by 
way of Detroit. 

On the Holland River they hid their canoe 
and then walked to Toronto Bay. Here 


THE GKEAT COUNCIL 


333 


Obashay bought a canoe of some friendly In- 
dians and started up Lake Ontario. 

In the month of July, 1760, after a journey 
lasting almost a year, they reached Old Fort 
Niagara, which was now held by English sol- 
diers under General Gates. But it seemed to 
the boys that they had been gone many years, 
for they had faced so many dangers, and had 
seen so much of land and water and forests 
and innumerable streams, that it seemed im- 
possible that one year could hold all of these 
experiences. Even the old stone house, which 
to this very day stands as a monument of the 
vanished French empire in America, did not 
seem quite real. Was it possible that they 
had witnessed here a great battle only a year 
ago? 

After a few days of rest, Obashay and his 
Indian sons started on the return journey to 
far-off Michipicoten, while the three Hopkins 
boys and Alois could not travel fast enough to 
reach their home on the Conewango. 

During the same summer, Montreal sur- 
rendered to the English, but real peace was 
still far off. 


334 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


The rumors, which Obashay had heard, 
proved only too true. Two years later, in the 
summer of 1763, the Ottawa Chief Pontiac 
began the most formidable of all Indian wars. 
Of all the western forts that had surrendered 
to the English only Detroit and Fort Pitt 
were not retaken by the Indian warriors. 

When, at last, the Indians saw that they 
could not win, the great Conspiracy of Pon- 
tiac collapsed, but hundreds of white men had 
lost their lives, and many had been made 
prisoners. 

In the following year, in the summer of 
1764, Sir William Johnson convened at Fort 
Magara the greatest Indian Council ever held 
in North America. Almost all the western 
tribes were represented. Even the Sioux, the 
Chippewas and the Ottawas from Lake Su- 
perior sent delegates. 

With the Ottawas came Obashay and the 
American trader, Alexander Henry, whose 
life had been miraculously saved in the bloody 
massacre of Fort Mackinac on June 3rd, 
1763. 

Obashay sent a runner to the Conewango 


THE GREAT COUNCIL 


335 


with the message that he wished to see his 
white sons once more before his eyes grew 
dim and his hair white. 

And the boys came, all four of them : Frank 
and Jack, the Little Frenchman, and the Little 
Brother, but only the Little Brother was still 
a boy. 

Four years ago, they had been too poor to 
thank Obashay with more than words and 
tears, but now they loaded his canoe with 
everything an Indian could use and desire, 
until Obashay said, My sons, it is enough. 
My canoe will carry no more.’’ 

Never could the boys have imagined, when 
they first started on the trail of Wagooshaw, 
that amongst the Red Men of the forest there 
could live such a man as Obashay. 

From time to time they sent with the trad- 
ers tokens of their affection to their Indian 
father, until word came that he had died 
peacefully of old age, and that his sons had 
buried him, as he had requested, on a high 
cliff overlooking the wild Bay of Michipicoten. 

And here ends the story of Wagooshaw, the 
savage warrior of the Stone Age, and of Chief 


V- 


336 THE KAID OF THE OTTAWA 


Obashay, who kept the ancient laws of the 
Ottawas better than many white men keep the 
laws of their Good Book. 


THE END 


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